Let Our Magic be One
by Psychotic Otaku
Summary: SnapexHarry. Severus was standing at his family's grave thinking, 'I am free at last, & my family is at rest...' Or so he thought... PRESLASH
1. Harry's Summer

It was a 'regular' summer for Harry. Harry had been sent home with a letter saying that he could use magic out side of school now that he was legally old enough to. Harry just left the letter somewhere in his room, and he didn't really care if his relatives found it anyways. He could use magic outside of school now; there was nothing to be really afraid of. Dudley tried to avoid him as much as he could, thinking he wouldn't have to go through the Dementor episode again. Uncle Vernon had locked Harry's robes and such in the cupboard, but luckily for Harry, he had his wand equipped. Aunt Petunia snapped at Harry more often, which Harry undoubtedly was getting used to. Harry was sleeping peacefully until...

"Harry! GET UP! Cook breakfast and make sure it's well cooked because today is Duddy-kins birthday!" Aunt Petunia screeched.

"Hunh?" Harry moaned. Right, he had forgotten, today was Dudley's birthday. As usual, Dudley and a friend went out for the day, and Harry was staying with Arabella Figg -a squib- Harry had met in his fifth year. Harry still felt pretty down, because of what happened in his fifth year. Harry was now in his seventh year at Hogwarts, a year after the war with Voldemort.

Harry got up, got dressed, and equipped himself with his wand, which he kept under his sleeve. He had sewn a little pocket in his sleeve, which he tested out at the last week of school. He cooked the Dursley's food and ate his breakfast in silence.

He was still thinking about what happened to Sirius. He was playing the 'if' game, he knew it was a dangerous game, but he couldn't help it. When he played that game it also made him think about his sixth year at Hogwarts. He had killed Voldemort, for good, and the remaining Death Eaters, were in Azkaban. Of course, his muggle relatives didn't know about that. They'd be furious to hear that Harry had escaped Lady Death seven times. He went back to his room, wrote his letters to his friends and the Order, like he promised, three times a week. It actually was a funny idea, to see; Alastor, Nymphadora, Kingsley, Shacklebolt, and of course the Weasleys march up Pivet Drive to tell his relatives off.

He owled his friends saying he was ok, and the muggles started to snap at Harry more often. Uncle Vernon boomed at Harry, "Alright Harry, none one can take you for the day, so we have to take you to the amusement park. We're picking up that Pier Polkiss bloke. NOW."

Harry marched out the door with thoughts racing in his head, of course he had never been to an amusement park. Dudley invited his friends there, which meant poor Harry had to avoid them all day, as to not get a bruise from Dudley's gang. As soon rat-faced Piers got in to the car, he whispered to Dudley loud enough for Harry to hear, "Hey Big D, you brought your cousin? Did you bring him so we can beat him up?"

Dudley -who was still on the diet- whispered "Yeah. Let's get him as soon as my dad isn't looking at us."

Little did Harry know that he was going to meet a friend of his who is muggle-born. His uncle boomed out once more, "Alright Dudley, we're here. And Harry, I want to talk to you in private."

Dudley and Pier left snickering at Harry, and Vernon said to Harry, a little purple faced, "If you do anything funny, you're going back to your cupboard."

Harry tiredly replied, "Yes, Uncle Vernon."

Harry wandered for a bit, until he saw a girl who looked familiar. He ran up to the girl and of course, it was Hermione Granger, the student who excelled at every subject she took. She was surprised to see Harry outside in an amusement park. Hermione squealed, "HARRY! Omigosh, what are you doing here?"

Harry with a small smile said "Dudley's birthday, they had no one to look after me, so here I am."

Hermione said, "Harry, stay with us. I'm sure your uncle and cousin won't mind."

Harry laughed, "Yeah, they'd love it if they lost me."

Hermione squealed again, "Let's go on the roller coaster, c'mon it's fun!" Harry and Hermione went on the roller coaster. They talked about everything, from homework to family. Harry saw Dudley and his gang looking for him, so he ran and hid. Poor Hermione who didn't have the faintest clue what Harry was doing, ran after him. Hermione was gasping for breath "Harry James Potter! What in bloody hell are you doing?"

Harry gasping for breath also said, "Running from my arse of a cousin. Do you see Dudley?"

Dudley who was standing behind Harry said, "Maybe you should look behind you, Harry."

Harry sprinted to Hermione's parents "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger... Can I stay with you and Hermione for the rest of the day?"

The Grangers were very pleased to say, "Harry, you are welcome to stay with us along as you need to. If you want, you can come over for a while."

Harry was pleased to hear this. He said, "Oh, I just need to stay with you for the day. My cousin's trying to beat me up."

The day passed by quickly for Harry, he quickly sprinted to the front seat, with magically shrunk prizes in his pocket.

He was happy and content. For the time being until the week of his birthday, they treated him worse now that he had fun at Dudley's birthday once they figured out that he was with Hermione the whole day. He received the Hogwarts letter saying what he needed. He looked at his letter of what he needed.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Uniform Seventh year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

5. One dress robe

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry nametags and that girls can wear pants in the sixth and seventh year.

Set Books

All the students should have a copy of each of the following:

A Guide to Occlumency by Severus Snape

The Advanced Book of Spells (Grade 7) by Miranda Goshawk

Monster Book by Furrey Animage

Advanced Transfiguration: Advancing to a new Level by Emeric Switch Advanced Potions by Tehnee Dumbledore ('What? Dumbledore has children? He's too old!' Harry thought)

Magical Plants and how to Care for Them by Phyllida Spore

Defending Yourself by 'Mad-Eye' Moody

1000 Charms by Georgee Charmsy

Other Equipment:

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 4)

2 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set silver scales

A Pensieve

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Harry looked at his letter in disbelief. Snape was teaching him an extra course, this was NOT good. He remembered his last Occlumency lesson with Snape. Snape freaked out when he got too curious about his memories. Prof. Snape would be breathing down his neck even more. Harry decided to owl his friends to see if they had Occlumency with him. Harry was hoping they were.

He scribbled on 2 scrap pieces of parchment:

Hey Ron/Hermione,

Did you get in your list that you needed a Pensieve? Owl me back as soon as possible.

Harry

Harry tied the parchment to Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, and Hermione's letter to Hedwig. Hedwig nipped him gently and the owls soared into the night sky. He couldn't sleep that night because he was still in shock, that he had to have 'remedial potions' again.

The next day Harry received Hermione's reply.

Harry,

No, I didn't. Is Prof. Snape teaching you again? I think you should take the opportunity.

Hermione

The day after that he received Ron's reply

Harry,

I got an owl saying that greasy git is teaching you again. DON'T take the opportunity. He'll just take off more points off of Gryffindor. Mum's picking you up next week.

Ron.

In a week he was leaving for the Burrow again, every summer since his second year, he always spent half of his summers with the Weasley family. Although they were poor, they always thought of those who were in worse situations.

A week passed slowly, and the day for Molly to pick up Harry came. Molly passed through the house by Floo powder; -the Dursley's removed the electric grill for the fire- the fire was a normal burning one. Molly stepped out of the fireplace and Petunia was scared because Nypmhadora Tonks came along too, to help with the luggage. Tonks had electric blue hair with artfully torn jeans, and of course... a Weird Sisters t-shirt. Tonks squealed, "Hey Harry, long time no see!"

Harry replied, "Yeah Tonks."

Molly asked, "Harry, dear, where are your things for school?"

Harry quickly said, "In my old cupboard."

Molly had heard every single word -although Tonks didn't- she asked Harry quietly to make sure she heard him right, "Your old cupboard?"

Harry sensing as soon as they reached the Burrow she was going to bombard him with questions tried to steer the subject, "Yeah, my old cupboard... Oh, it's locked..."

Tonks whispered, "Ok, I'm going to sneak to that cupboard like a muggle on a spy mission! DUN DUN!"

Tonks apparated to the cupboard and shouted, "Alohomora!"

Tonks had run back with everything including Hedwig's cage. Hedwig was already at the Weasleys. Harry who definitely did not like to travel by floo offered to go last. Molly went in first, then Tonks and Harry heard, "Where you going boy?"

Harry stopped in his tracks and said, "I'm going to my friend's house..."

Uncle Vernon hollered, "Petunia! The freak is going!"

Petunia's shrill reply was, "Good. Make sure you give him a good kick in the arse before he goes!"

Vernon turned to Harry and said, "You hear that? I have to give you a good kick in the arse before you go."

Vernon hit Harry on the arm where were some bruises from the previous week because Harry was muttering something about having 'remedial potions' If there was anything mentioned about magic under the roof of the Dursley household, Harry was sure to be hit.

Harry scampered to the fireplace and yelled as loud as he could to drown out Vernon's snide comments, "THE BURROW!"

Harry arrived at the Burrow and Molly gasped, "What took you? I thought you were having problems with the luggage we gave you or with the muggles..."

Ron stopped his mother in mid-sentence, "Mum, Harry needs to breathe. He can take care of himself and if there's something that's bothering him he'll tell someone when he wants to."

Harry was thankful for Ron to tell his mum that, "Thanks Ron."

Ron glared at his mother, "No problem mate. You know people have their own pace at life, and if something's wrong, they'll tell someone when they're ready to."

Fred and George came up to Harry and greeted him with their fireworks that they had invented in Harry's fifth year. The twins also pushed Ron far back. Ron ran up to him and said, "Is it true that the slimy git is going to teach you?"

Harry said with a soft smile, "Yeah, I guess. I don't want to think about him during the summer, it would ruin it."

Molly told Harry and Ron that she was going shopping for their school supplies later that week and to give them the papers for what they need Harry gave Molly his paper with little stars on it indicating only Harry needed that specific item, "Harry, you and Ron have the same list. Why are you giving me this?"

Harry explained his situation, "Well, I'm taking another course."

Molly understood about the extra subject then she steered the conversation to why Harry didn't Floo in right away. Ron butted in the conversation again. Harry felt thankful for Ron for doing that and told Ron that he owes him for helping him out.

Harry was going over the things he needed for the school with Ron and said, "Well, I have everything I need... except for the Pensieve..."

Ron said, "Bollocks. Since mum couldn't get one Snape's going to be breathing down our necks even more."

Harry pessimistically said, "Guess I'll just have to tell Dumbledore and Snape I couldn't get one."


	2. Back to Hogwarts

It was the last day before Harry and the remaining Weasley children went to King's Cross. Fred and George went back to their joke shop at Diagon Alley, Bill and Charlie went back to their respective places for working and Percy was getting his belongings to move back into the Weasley household. Percy had made up with his family and confessed he was being a selfish git. Ron said he couldn't agree more but his mother scolded him for saying such a thing.

Molly asked everybody if they were ready and as soon as they said they were they departed for King's Cross. Ron saw Hermione and muttered to Harry because he wasn't sure if it was her, "Hey, isn't that Hermione?"

Harry looked at Hermione chatting animatedly with Ginny and replied back, "Yeah, that's her."

Ron looked at her once more; she had changed over the summer and over the previous years. Her hair wasn't bushy any more, her teeth didn't stand out as much as it used to due to the fact that she had them magically repaired and she was a little taller too. Ron hollered to Hermione, "Oi 'Mione!"

Hermione ran to her friends and said, "Hi guys. So Harry, so are you going to take the Occlumency lessons?"

Ron argued with Hermione that Harry wouldn't do such a thing, "Are you crazy? Harry might think a little higher of our Potions teacher but that still doesn't mean they're not at each other's throats anymore!"

Harry laughed at Ron and Hermione fighting with each other; he knew Ron had a crush on Hermione and promised not to tell anyone. If Harry did, Ron promised Harry that he would hex Harry into oblivion. Hermione said, "C'mon guys, let's get a cabin!"

Harry and his friends walked through the barrier of nine and three quarters. There he went to the cabin that was closest to the Prefects cabin since Hermione and Ron were made prefects in their fifth year. In that cabin there was Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom. Neville had gotten taller over the summer and grew his hair a little longer; he was cheery but still a little bit forgetful. Luna was reading her father's magazine the Quibbler... upside down. Ginny was busy reviewing the things she had learned the previous year since she knew that she was going to get homework the first day. When Harry walked in, Luna asked, "Hey Harry how was your summer?"

Harry replied leaving out the parts where his uncle Vernon had hit him said, "Pretty good, you?"

"Daddy and I still couldn't find any 'Crumpled-Horn Snorkacks'!" Luna declared.

Neville, Ginny and Harry looked away trying hard not to snicker at the comment Luna had made. Ginny was turning red and Neville had his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Harry bought some food and sat looking at the scenery for the rest of the ride until Draco and his cronies came through his particular compartment.

A loud drawling voice said, "Well if it isn't Potter, Weasel, Loony Lovegood and Longbottom, the group of losers!"

Harry snapped at Draco, "Malfoy, why don't you and your cronies go away?"

Draco walked closer to Harry and leaned forward, licked his cheek and whispered in his ear, "I'll be seeing a lot of you throughout the year, Potter. I thank you for putting my horrible mother and father in Azkaban. It will be a fun year for me..."

Harry's eyes flashed as if there was fire in his eyes and said angrily, "Draco, you disgusting freak!"

Luna looked up from the latest edition of the Quibbler and asked Harry, "Why are you saying that?"

"Never mind." Harry said.

Draco who was also made a prefect went back to the Prefects cabin, smirking and said before leaving, "Oh yes, all of you... we will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes."

They arrived at Hogwarts and Harry saw the thestrals again and reached out and petted them. Ron and Hermione knew that you could only see the thestrals if you have seen death as they learned in Care of the Magical Creatures in their fifth year.

They went into the Great Hall and sat at their respective tables. As soon as the students who were already sorted into their own houses were seated, and the unsorted students were seated in their respective places, the Sorting Hat began to sing,

'Many, many years ago,

In which I may have lost count,

When Hogwarts was still young,

There were 4 sorcerers, so noble,

Who were united together, by one common goal...

They wanted to educate young people,

To pass along their gifts.

Then Gryffindor so stout and honest,

Took students who were brave,

While Ravenclaw with intelligence and cleverness,

Took students with ready and alert minds,

Hufflepuff so kind hearted and loyal,

Took just hard workers and plain folks too,

So Syltherin with cunning and ambitions,

Took pure blooded sorcerers with great ambition in.

Several years in great harmony,

And soon then there was discord,

Amongst these close friends.

The pillars of our school were crumbling,

Our school seemed to be at its end.

The unity was in disorder,

Never to be the same again,

But now in these recent years the unity is once again strong.

Now I don't worry that much anymore,

Whether the Sorting is all wrong.

Now place me on your head,

And I will tell you where to go,

To a house full of bravery or intelligence too,

Or plain folk as you might be too,

Cunning and sly you might be,

That's were you might go,

I'm the Sorting Hat and I'll sort you,

And that is what I must do!'

After the hat had sung, it sorted the first years into their houses and Dumbledore stood up to make his yearly speech, "Welcome back everyone to Hogwarts. I have some announcements to make. There will be two changes in the staff this year. Due to the fact that each year we have teachers come and go for one particular position in the teaching staff that is, Defence against the Dark Arts."

Ron muttered to Harry and Hermione, "Hope it's someone good this time."

Dumbledore had paused for a brief moment allowing this to sink in, and then he continued. "We have another change in teaching staff also, that subject is Potions."

Everyone started to whisper and mutter. The Gryffindor trio was completely in shock and pleased. Ron whispered to everyone in earshot of him, "Yeah! Snape probably got sacked or something!"

Dumbledore again had paused to let the students register the information and to wait for the students to quiet down a little. He continued, "The new potions professor will be the very person who wrote the seventh year potion texts. May I present my daughter Tehnee Dumbledore "

A young woman with dark auburn hair, blue-green eyes stood up. Hushed whispers could be heard all around and the children and teenagers all had looks of bewilderment "No Way! He's like 100! How could she look so young?" She was wearing a Weird Sisters t-shirt and tight jeans and looked no older than twenty-five. She started to speak, "Hi everyone, I'm your new Potions professor. I know I don't look like a professor but I actually am! Anyways... did you know your old potions professor scares me?"

Everyone laughed at the comment she had made except the Slytherin table. Tehnee continued her speech, "I'm going to make sure you do your best at this subject although it is a hard one. I better stop now in case you fall asleep. Knowing you don't like speeches about school considering your ages and all..."

After Tehnee's speech she sat down and there was thunderous applause. Everyone was smiling then, Dumbledore stood up again to continue where he left off from his own speech, "Thank you Tehnee. I hope my daughter will be a great addition to the staff. As for your Defence against Dark Arts teacher, I think it was a wise choice considering the fact of how much he has done for the light side and his experience during the war and he has helped to defeat the Dark Lord, may I present your new Defence against Dark Arts teacher, Severus Snape."

His gaze rested on the students before him, and to Harry, that calm gaze of Dumbledore's was actually quite unnerving. The students were quite shocked especially the Gryffindor table. Ron was cursing under his breath, "Great, just when we thought he was sacked or something, now he has the position he wants; plus, he'll try to hex us or something now that he can!"

There was a lot of whispering and muttering, Snape walked into the Great Hall with a very distinct sneer on his face. He looked at the Gryffindor table, then his own and sneered even more. Only the Slytherin table would applaud Snape for acquiring a new position. Every other table was just quiet and muttering. Dumbledore continued to talk, while Severus walked to his seat at the staff table, " Yes, I know how...shocking this is. Anyways, this year we were so busy with the changes in the staff; we forgot to send out letters to the students that are to be Head Boy and Girl. So the staff and I have decided to have a Ceremony to make these students Head Boy and Girl of their houses."

Minerva McGonagall stood up and spoke, "First, we will start with Gryffindor. Then Slytherin, Hufflepuff and finally Ravenclaw. Will the Head of each House stand up?"

Minerva, Severus, Petra Sprout and Doreen Vector stood up and went to the centre of the professor's table. Dumbledore was still standing there but he was at the end of the line of professors. Professor McGonagall spoke again, "We will announce the Head Girls then the Boys. Our Head Girl this year for Gryffindor will be...Hermione Granger, for her excellent studies in all her years here."

Hermione stood up, blushing and walked to her Headmistress took her badge and stood there waiting for the next teacher to announce the next Head Girl. Severus cleared his throat and said, "Myla Wailme, for her excellent skills at Potion-making." The girl walked up and did the same as Hermione.

Petra announced the next girl, "Hannah Abbot, for showing determination to prove herself in her academics."

Then the last Head girl was to be announced, Doreen said, "Cho Chang, for her excellent skills at Quidditch, and facing adversity for being one of the few girls to be on a Quidditch team."

Everyone applauded and the girls shook their hands with the Heads of each House. When Hermione sat down almost everyone was saying the same thing, "We should have seen that coming."

Then Minerva announced that they were doing the boys "For Gryffindor... Harry Potter, for showing a thirst to prove himself at anything he tries, for helping defeat the Dark Lord, for finding time for so many activities, for standing up to those who try to hurt his friends, for hard work and determination, and finally, for being brave at times of crisis. Please come up, Harry."

Harry stood up and walked somewhat shakily to the professors' table and accepted his badge. Then Severus cleared his throat again and cleared his expression of 'I-knew-this-would-happen' and said, "Draco Malfoy, for showing cunning and for being able to be calm in times of pressure."

Petra announced the next boy, "Ernie Macmillan, for cheering up those who need some one to be there for them."

Finally the last Head Boy was announced, "Dylan Smith, for guiding the first years through the school year. "

There was applause again, and Harry sat down at his table. Everyone congratulated at the Gryffindor table congratulated both Harry and Hermione. Dumbledore made his usual warning about the Forbidden Forest and sat down to eat. Everyone was chattering, Harry looked at the teacher's table and saw that Professor Snape was half- heartedly eating his food. Then Harry looked at the Slytherin table, Draco was sitting next to Blaise Zabini, trying to get his attention with his newfound power. Harry thought, 'So that's why he licked me... to get Blaise jealous of me when there is going to be rumors about it. Sorry Draco, but that not going to happen.'

As soon as the feast was finished, the students sang the school song. After they sang the school song, the Head-Boys and Girls stayed behind with the first years and prefects. The Head of each House told them the password. This year's password for Gryffindor was 'Dragon Faeries' Harry and Hermione led the first years to their dorms and explained the rules of the school and dorms to them. Hermione went to the girls' dorms and Harry to his. He was too excited about being Head-Boy just like his dad... 'Wow! Head Boy. Guess it means more responsibilities this year.'

Ron said, "Congratulations mate. I guess it means that you can come with us to Prefect meetings and stuff. But Draco... what was Snape thinking?"

"What was Snape smoking actually?" Harry corrected him.

Harry and Ron stayed up a little bit late to talk about things such as what they would do for the first Hogsmeade visit and such. The next morning, Harry got up extra early; he dressed, arranged his books for his classes, and went down for breakfast. There he saw Ernie, Dylan, Cho, Hannah, and Myla chatting, looking as if they didn't get much sleep that night. He said, "Hey guys, looks like all of us need something to help us start our day..."

Cho giggled and blushed, "Of course Harry, what did you think? We were so excited we couldn't sleep!"

"Hey, there's Malfoy. I heard he was hitting on someone on the trains yesterday. The person who he was hitting on told him to bug off, that person must hate Malfoy's guts. Pansy Parkinson was crying yesterday because Malfoy wasn't paying attention to her," Myla said.

Harry turned crimson as soon as he heard Myla said that. Great. Malfoy had told the Slytherin dorms that he was hitting on him. Draco walked up to Harry and saw Blaise walk by; everyone knew that Blaise woke up very early in the morning. Draco pecked Harry on the cheek, as soon as he did that; Harry stomped on Draco's foot. Zabini didn't take notice of this, neither did the other people. Draco asked everyone, "Hey where's Granger? She's supposed to be here by now."

Dylan, "I don't know. Probably she woke up late."

Hermione was running through the entrance of the Gryffindor passageway to the Great Hall. Hermione asked frantically, "Did I miss anything?"

Draco replied matter-of-factly, "No Granger, you didn't miss the whole show, you're just in time."

"Oh, that's good news. "

Minerva walked into the entrance Hall and explained to them what they were to do during the year. Draco pretended that he was bored, and meanwhile Hermione was paying rapt attention to the deputy headmistress. As soon as she was finished going over the responsibilities of being a head boy or girl, everyone was filing in to eat breakfast. Ron saved them their regular seats and then sat down for breakfast. Professor McGonagall was handing out timetables to the students. Harry received two timetables, one for regular classes and one for his Occlumency classes and Quidditch practices. Hermione peered over to Harry's timetable and said, "Your first Occlumency lesson is this Friday when we get off school in the afternoon."

Ron said, "That's not fair!"

Hermione continued to speak as if she didn't hear Ron, "First, we have Transfiguration, then I have Arithmancy, which means you have Divination, then we have Potions."

Ron looked absolutely pleased when Hermione mentioned Potions. Hermione made him snap back to reality by saying dryly, "C'mon let's get our stuff and go to Transfiguration. We don't want to be late."

As they marched off to Transfiguration, Harry bumped into Cho, which made her blush a deep shade of crimson. Cho called out after Harry, "Sorry!"

Professor McGonagall gave them a lecture about their NEWTs that year and that they were lucky to be in this class. "Now as for seating arrangements, you may sit wherever you please for today."

They were working on transfiguring a box into a book. Hermione, as usual had perfected the spell while others, their boxes turned into the cover of the book. "Five points to Gryffindor, Miss Granger for satisfactory results. The rest of you, practice your spell for tomorrow. It had better be satisfactory tomorrow, Neville."

Hermione dashed off to Arithmancy while Harry and Ron were heading to the Northern Tower. Ron said, "Well Harry, at least Trelawney doesn't predict your death anymore."

Harry replied lazily, "Next to Binns, I would sleep through her class."

They had reached the tower early so they sat there waiting for the rest of the class, and waiting for Sybil to open the trap door. When the trap door opened, they heard her usual misty tone, "Welcome everyone to the advanced Divination class, my inner eye tells me that a pair will find love, though they are just adversaries right now!"

Parvati and Lavender whispered to each other, "I wonder who they are?"

Ron muttered, "Yeah, like anyone wants to be friends after being enemies."

They were reviewing numerology, everyone was doing name numbers. Parvati and Lavender were giggling and they moved on to dousing for yes and no answers. They received lots of homework so far and they all trudged on to have a Double Potions class with the Slytherins. They arrived and sat in the front of the room. Tehnee was waiting in the room with her potions apparatus clearly transfigured to be another colour. "Today we will be making something fun, since it's your first day back here. Kids, you're in for a treat! I will assign to the girls to make Love potions and the boys will make the antidote. The recipe is in your textbooks right before chapter 1. "

Pansy squealed, "Yay, Draco! Did you hear that? I'm going to make a love potion for us!"

Draco was ignoring Pansy and paying attention to Blaise and his antics. All the girls were happily making the potions while the guys were brooding about how they had to do girly things. Tehnee went around giving tips to people who had trouble and this time, and Neville's cauldron didn't melt! Tehnee said to Neville, "You Longbottom?"

Neville stuttered, "Yeah. I...am."

Tehnee said, "Ten points to Gryffindor! I don't know why your Potions Master thinks that you can't make a single potion, you made this antidote perfectly! Everyone hand in your potions so I can mark them. I put a charm on the doorway, so girls, if you try to sneak the potion out of the classroom you will get caught."

Everyone in Gryffindor applauded Neville. Dean Thomas said, "Wow Neville, you didn't melt your cauldron! I guess it was Snape that always scared you out of your wits, and that's probably why you couldn't make anything."

They went to their dorms to rest and talked about how Neville managed to make a potion properly and other things. At dinner when the Gryffindors were sitting down, Severus was standing there and he said, "I heard that Neville made a potion properly, and Miss Granger came down to my office to remind me that I promised if Neville made a potion properly, I would award Gryffindor 25 points. 25 points to Gryffindor."

Everyone cheered and said, "Thanks Hermione!"

Professor Snape scowled and growled, "10 points for making noise."

The week passed quickly and Friday came. The Gryffindor trio ran to their DADA class in the dungeons. Much to their surprise, they were early. Snape saw them and said dryly, "I see you three are early. You three separate. Potter, sit in the front. Not there. In front of my desk. Granger, sit in the back. Weasley, sit in the middle. Ah, I see the rest of Gryffindor has arrived. Neville sit next to Potter. Weasley, go back one seat. Good. As I see all of you have made it to the NEWT class. I will have an assistant to help me with everything, and that will be Potter. Take out your quills and start writing an essay about why taking Defence Against Dark Arts is so important. It is to be 4 feet. Hand it in Monday with no excuses."

As soon as they were done their DADA class, Professor Snape called Harry to come up to his desk. "Potter, get your things and meet me in the Room of Requirement. Be there by 1:30 sharp. Don't be late."


	3. A School Outing

Chapter 3- A School Outing  
  
Authoress: Gah! This is hard to write!  
  
Snape: Should be for your bloody little mind.  
  
Authoress: Never you mind. I don't own Harry Potter or any ideas, characters, or places, they're all owned by the brilliant writer, J.K. Rowling. Some spells are from Weirdsister College or Worst Witch -shows- that I think that were totally spiffy. Yeah, which leads us to another part of my disclaimer, the ideas from Weirdsister College and Worst Witch ideas and stuff like that are copyrighted by Granada Media Group Ltd., Global Arts Productions Ltd., and Galafilm Productions Inc. Ok? Good.  
  
Warnings: And I warn you all, there are some Ootp spoilers, there is slash, and implied twinscest. So leave now if this isn't your cup of tea ok? Go before you damage your brain permanently.  
  
Archive: Anywhere as long as you get MY PERMISSION to do so.  
  
Harry was heading back to his dormitory to get his occlumency book, and there he saw Hermione and Ron waiting for him there. Hermione was reading her own copy of the occlumency book; that she had bought in Harry's sixth year and Ron was silently fuming to himself. Harry said, "Hey guys."  
  
Ron said, "I can't believe it! You're getting Snape for the rest of the day!"  
  
Hermione offered her opinion, "I think it's a good idea Ron! Harry will become more skilled at occlumency!"  
  
Ron argued, "No it isn't!"  
  
Harry got his books and they left to go eat lunch. They went up to the room of requirement and saw Snape waiting there for Harry. Snape glided forward and sneered, "Ah... So you brought your friends Potter. Come on, I don't have all day. And yes, your friends can stay with you for your first lesson only."  
  
Harry said, "Erm... sir?"  
  
Snape sighed, "What Potter?"  
  
Harry said, "Well, on my list of things to get for the school year it said I needed a Pensieve. I don't have one..."  
  
Snape replied, "Potter, that is exactly what we are going to do for your first lesson. Get you your bloody pensieve. They are fashioned uniquely by wizards or witches who specialize in pensieve making. There is at least one in every country in the world. Which means, that this particular branch of magic isn't studied broadly. We are going to the northern coast of England to get you your pensieve, leave your books here, Potter and Miss. Granger. We're going to Gringotts first and then the north coast."  
  
Hermione listened to this conversation with great interest and asked worriedly, "But sir, don't we have to tell Professor Dumbledore first where we are going?"  
  
Snape replied dryly to Hermione, "Miss. Granger, I have informed Dumbledore of our excursion. Let us be on our way and Mr. Weasley, if you don't want to lose points, hurry up!"  
  
They flooed to Diagon Alley and they made their way to Gringotts the wizarding bank. Harry, Snape, Hermione and Ron went down the carts and made their way to Harry's vault. "Erm... sir?" Harry asked.  
  
Snape said, "What Potter?"  
  
"How much money should I take?" Harry asked, unsure of how much he should take.  
  
"Get 500 galleons and 20 sickles and 5 knuts." Snape ordered.  
  
Harry was mildly shocked at how much money he would need for the pensieve. He took the amount he needed and exited his vault; Snape announced that he needed to go to his vault. He took only 100 galleons form his own personal account and they departed for northern England.  
  
Severus was in the front of the trio, Ron kept on complaining how Snape was unfair and cruel and Hermione kept on telling him to shut up. Harry on the other hand was pretty fascinated by the change in scenery since he had never travelled to other places besides Hogwarts. They arrived at a gate, which was locked, Snape tried alohomora on it and it didn't work. "Sir, why don't we all try casting the spell?" suggested Hermione who observed how Severus failed to open the gate.  
  
Severus growled, "All right... On the count of three. One... Two... Three!"  
  
"Alohomora!" they all muttered.  
  
The gate still didn't open. Harry thought for a while and tried to remember a spell he had seen in the library at Hogwarts to open doors that were magically locked and could only be opened by a spell. "Here let me try." Harry suggested.  
  
Snape said, "Potter, I really doubt your spell casting abilities."  
  
Hermione defended Harry, "I don't know about that Professor."  
  
"Salas portus imperato exipedimus day obstructo!" Harry chanted.  
  
The gate turned into a mauve colour then it transformed into a portal. Ron gasped awe-struck, "Wow, Harry, I didn't know you knew some ancient magic!"  
  
Harry was confused; didn't ancient magic die out or something? "That was ancient magic?" he asked Prof Snape.  
  
Severus was shocked and said, "Yes, it was. It isn't widely used today; the spells still work but have been forgotten over the years. By Merlin, those spells are actually forgotten by most people! Those spells are usually used by those who conceal themselves; hermits living alone, by those who study the ancient spells and arts and they are also used for wizarding ceremonies that are very solemn."  
  
Hermione had her mouth open when the professor was explaining about ancient magic and gasped, "Wow..."  
  
They walked to the hidden hut and knocked on the door. A witch's voice could be heard, "Yes? What brings you here?"  
  
Harry said, "Erm...I'm here to get a pensieve for myself."  
  
Severus growled, "I'm his occlumency teacher with two students who are accompanying "  
  
Hermione and Ron just stood there silent not sure of how to introduce themselves and looked at Professor Snape. The witch let them in her house and smiled at them. "Hello," she said, "I am a pensieve maker as you all know, and this particular art has been taught in my family for centuries. Now... who is the young man who wanted a pensieve?"  
  
Harry stepped forward and the witch took his hand and examined his magical aura, which was blue and green that sparked like electricity. She set to make his pensieve and when it was finished it looked as if the designs were real and were coming to life. The designs were faeries who seemed to be working their magic, nymphs dancing away, dragons soaring into the sky, elves (not house-elves) lurking about, and unicorns trotting about. The witch was paid 500 galleons, they departed back to the nearest wizarding settlement, and that was Diagon Alley.  
  
Soon night was setting and so they ventured off to Diagon Alley. Severus owled the Headmaster to say that they would be staying the night in Diagon Alley. There, they met Fred and George Weasley, who offered to let them stay in their flat. At first, Severus refused, but the trio outvoted him. The twins' flat magically housed more rooms. The bathroom was down the hall of everyone's room. Some people needed to use the bathroom for showering and Harry went first. Snape was reading a book in the living room of the flat, and Fred & George asked him if the bathroom was being used. Severus replied to them, "Harry's using it."  
  
Fred and George were grinning like Chesire Cats and giggled. Severus looked at them as if they were crazy. "We'll be using it after Harry." Fred smiled as he answered his old professor's unspoken question.  
  
"As long as you two don't blow up the flat." Snape warned as gave them his infamous Snape glare. Ron & Hermione went into the living room and examined the joke merchandise that the twins invented. Harry was finished and the twins went in the bathroom together. He saw Ron turning red and started to snigger at him. Ron saw Harry laughing at him and told him to shut up then Ron turned more a deeper shade of red and said, "Hermione... I ... uh have something to ask you..."  
  
At this point, Severus was pretending to read and was watching them closely. 'Hermione is confused all right, she may know lots of things, but she doesn't know when a boy likes her or when he's going to ask her out.' Severus thought. Hermione was indeed confused and asked, "Yes, Ron?"  
  
Ron looked at Harry then Hermione then he repeated that, then he looked at Snape and so he continued, "I really like you a lot and umm... I was wondering if you want to go out with me?"  
  
Hermione squealed, "Of course Ron! I've started to like you since our fifth year... But Harry, are you ok with this?"  
  
Actually, Harry thought that they made a cute couple and saw it coming. He knew Hermione wasn't really for him and said, "As long as you make time for me, I'm fine! And please don't snog in Professor Snape's presence."  
  
Professor Snape spoke up and said, "Yes, now that there is a new couple in Hogwarts...Remember when to keep your hands off of each other. Especially in my class or you will get a detention for snogging."  
  
Now at this point of the chapter, the characters could hear loud moaning that sounded something like this... "Oh George... God... Oh Merlin... have you been practicing or something?...Oh my! (A falsetto voice)"  
  
Poor Ron... He looked at the hallway with a pale face and said, "Not that again..."  
  
Hermione didn't have a clue of what was going on, she knew that Fred and George were jokers, but Harry and Severus seemed to get an idea and just started to laugh. Ron laughed along with them and said, "Oi Harry! Did you hear that after practice?"  
  
Harry nodded his head and said while shrugging his body, "Yeah, plenty of times. Oliver had to pry them apart once...or twice...most of the time..."  
  
Severus said with a small hint of a smile, "So there's and incest couple from Gryffindor, not bad... I think I'll reward five points to Gryffindor for this excellent show, don't worry Mr. Weasley... How long has this gone on?"  
  
Ron didn't go pale this time and said, "Well... since their fifth year and mum's been making them take separate baths."  
  
Hermione went pale and sighed as they all went to bed. In the morning they heard an explosion and two people yelling, "Hey, where'd you put the presents we made for Ron, Harry and Hermione?"  
  
"I thought you had it last!"  
  
Severus woke up a grumpy man because the twins had woken him up early...way too early. In fact, when he woke up, he jinxed the first thing he saw, which was a box of trick sweets. The sweet boxes exploded and they were all over the room that Severus was staying in. He tripped on some of them, cursed loudly, walked into the kitchen, saw the golden trio eating breakfast with big grins, wolfishly ate his breakfast and kept on muttering about as soon as he could return back to Hogwarts; he could finally get some sleep for the day without obnoxious brats around.  
  
The trio received some of the products that the twins made, the twins told their little brother to advertise for them and Hermione scolded at them for putting such an idea in their brother's head. "This is what you both did while you never paid attention to my classes?" Professor Snape asked the twins with a very infamous Snape glare.  
  
The twins were starting to complete each other's sentences. They always did that to Professor Snape either in detention or outside of detention and it irritated Severus greatly. The trio and the twins were grinning like Cheshire Cats while Snape grinded his teeth together.  
  
"Of course we paid attention..."  
  
"In your classes..."  
  
"It's just that we just tested..."  
  
"Some of our products..."  
  
"In your class!" They replied in unison.  
  
Snape told Harry and his friends that they were leaving at that moment when the twins finished speaking. They flooed back to Leaky Cauldron and caught the train to Hogwarts. Harry was holding on to his pensieve for dear life to not break it. Ron held Harry's share of the joke items and was holding Hermione's hand, and every now and then they screamed 'Eskimo Kiss!' and tried to snog, but Snape always caught them and pried them apart. They arrived at Hogwarts around dinner and the travelling group fled to the room of requirement to pick up anything they forgot in that room. Harry put his pensieve under his bed and other things in his trunk and went down for dinner. Everyone asked where they were, and said that they were out buying stuff that they couldn't get Snape voluntarily gone along.  
  
Severus awarded 5 points to Gryffindor as promised and told everyone to get to bed and shut up. Tomorrow was going to be a long day... and he might as well get to sleep. Harry liked the design of his pensieve and tried to remember what Albus and Severus' looked like. Sleep consumed them all and some boys couldn't wait until tomorrow because they had potions. And some didn't want to go to DADA because of Snape .   
What will tomorrow bring? Will Harry and his friends use the trick items? Will Snape give detention? I dunno, you all... but you gotta wait till next chapter to find out!  
  
Snape no Koibito1: Damn writer's block! Kicks a cube that says 'WRITER'S BLOCK' You're trying to stop me from getting to the next chapter!  
  
Severus : Very amusing indeed! Your writing is like a board game!  
  
Baka Otaku: Glomps Harry GAH!   
  
Crappy? Ok? I've seen better? Anything?  
  
R is for Review, please?  
  
E is for Edgy writer, who thinks her work is starting to become crappy...  
  
V is for Valid?  
  
I is for I need some coffee! Coffee! O.o  
  
E is for Erm... I need to think for chapter 4.  
  
W is for Weird plea for reviews. 


	4. The Halloween Festival

Chapter 4-The Halloween Festival  
  
Warnings: Slash/Yaoi, some OotP spoilers, hints of twinscest, AU, swearing (just a couple of bad words in this chapter)  
  
Disclaimer: J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter, characters and such. So don't sue me. I only have the HP books and my imaginary dolls!  
  
Pairings: HP/SS, HG/RW, hints of DM/BZ, and FW/GW  
  
What Happened so Far: Harry is stuck with having extra lessons with the loathed potions master, Severus Snape! Ron and Hermione hooked up last chapter, and so far, they're having a blast out of being a couple. Hermione and Severus found out that Fred and George are well... an item. Snape teaches Harry occlumency, and for their first lesson, -accompanied by the rest of the golden trio- Harry gets his very own pensieve. Draco is trying to get Blaise Zabini to go out with him, and he uses Harry to try make Zabini jealous. But Harry promises himself that Draco will have to get Zabini without using Harry.  
  
Archive: Anywhere as long as you get MY PERMISSION to do so.  
  
Harry: I want some presents!  
  
Baka Otaku: Don't worry sugah; we'll get you some presents.  
  
Harry: YAY, I'm getting presents!  
  
PsyO: I want presents too!  
  
Baka Otaku: Ok, my yami is making a fool of herself, and she's supposed to be the sane one...  
  
Harry was working extra hard this year since he had extra lessons, and because his occlumency lessons were never on a set date or time. The teachers were planning a fun event for everyone since Halloween was coming up, and they decided to help students to have happy memories to help the students to recover from the War. They were deciding to on whether to have a carnival or a dance.  
  
Everyone was excited and all the female teachers were babbling excitedly on what would happen and so forth. As much as possible, professor Snape was trying to be anti-social because he didn't want to be stuck supervising and taking part in the games. Albus was taking a vote on what to have for the Halloween festivities and mostly of all, the student body wanted a carnival, because they thought a dance would be boring, since they had dances for previous years since Harry's fourth year.  
  
The students were so excited that they wouldn't pay attention in class, so most of the teachers let them talk and play, while only two still gave them work: Professor Snape and Professor Binns. Professor Snape kept on muttering on how the carnival, was a waste of time. As the carnival approached, all the couples were excited because Halloween was a time they could snog, since most of the time they couldn't snog due to the strict rules. On the day of Halloween, Harry was hanging out with his friends, as they were going booth to booth, they saw Professor Trelawney's booth. She was predicting people's futures and the golden trio decided to go check it out and surprisingly, there was a long line!  
  
Harry joined the line and waved at his friends and said, "Hey guys, want to check out Trelawney's booth?"  
  
Hermione sighed and shook her head saying. "Oh Harry, she's just a fraud. She had only one prediction that was true and that was in our third year!"  
  
Of course Harry had never told his friends about the prophecy that he had learned in his fifth year; he was still worried -2 years later- that his friends would overreact, but little did he know that prophecy wouldn't really matter. There was one that would change his life for better means, but a small set of problems would arise at it's own time. But that's not important right now...  
  
Professor Snape was walking by, bumped into Harry, took 5 points off of Gryffindor, tripped in front of Sybill and she entered a trance-like prophecy. "You will find true love by the end of this year, Severus Snape, it will be with the person you least expect it with..."  
  
Severus knew what was going on, so did Harry, the Aurors appeared from the Ministry to record it and stayed there to see if she would prophesise again . When Harry passed by his Divinations teacher she went into another trance and spoke again, "Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world, finally at last you will find the happiness and family you seek on your quest of love and belonging."  
  
"Huh, I'll find the belonging I've been yearning for?" asked Harry stupidly.  
  
Severus was mildy surprised at what Harry had said, while on the other hand... his friends were didn't hear what he said. Professor Trelawney's crystal ball was showing a swirling mist then, a small pond with water drops dripping into it. Harry walked back to his friends, bumped into Snape again and 5 points was taken off Gryffindor.  
  
For the rest of the day Harry kept to himself and bumped into Severus repeatedly, so he got a detention at 9:30 p.m. The potions master was very irritated that he received a prophecy from one his most disliked colleagues. He locked himself in his office, activated the wards, sat himself at his desk, and thought about the events throughout the day.  
  
At 9:30 Harry went down to the dungeons to do his detention with Snape, found Snape setting up his cauldron, pensieve and occulmency book. Snape looked up, sneered, demanded, while ticking off his fingers " Why Harry... why did keep on bumping into me? To make fun of me? You, yourself..."  
  
In his own defence Harry, shot back , "It was just an accident, I just wasn't looking at where I was going!"  
  
Severus became irritated and began to draw out wand to hex Harry, but Albus head popped out of Severus' fire place and said calmly, "Don't. You know that you will get suspended from teaching if you hex a student outside of school hours. But you know the exceptions..."  
  
With a reluctant sigh, he put his wand in pocket of his robe, ordered Harry to help him make potions and salves for Mme Pomfrey and decided that he would teach Harry also. They made potions for a simple cold to more complex ones, then they made salves for all sorts of ailments. When Severus started to tell Harry to get his things for Occlumency, Harry darted off to his dorm as quickly as possible and took his time to get back to the dungeons. Severus became more irritated and zapped Harry with a simple spell.  
  
Harry was fascinated with the pensieve Severus owned, he examined the designs which were similar to Harry's and had the same effect in the carving in the material as Harry's. Severus noted that Harry took in his pensieve and asked him, "Wondering how I got this?"  
  
Harry snapped out of his trance and murmured, "Huh? What? Oh yeah, I guess... I like the designs."  
  
"Although, I am reluctant to show you, it is my duty to answer as many questions that I can." answered Snape slowly as if Harry was slow at grasping the concept  
  
Snape motioned Harry to step near his pensieve and told Harry to look at the silver flowing substance, so he could learn how the potions master of Hogwarts acquired his Pensieve. In the memories of Severus Snape, he saw a young boy of five with a man who appeared to look like a younger version of Severus Snape. The young boy had an enthusiastic energy while he was jumping up and down, after he jumped around a little he took his father's hand. He giggled and said, "Papa, Papa! What are we going to do today?"  
  
His father smiled, squeezed his son's hand and answered, "We're going to see your mother, and she and I have a surprise for you."  
  
Harry who was a little confused asked professor Snape what this particular memory had to do with how he got his pensieve, Snape told him that he thought it best for Harry to see the entire story. The little boy was thinking deeply letting his robe fly about in a particular way that seemed familiar to Harry, his eyes lit up and said, "Really? You and Mama have a surprise? Can you tell me please? I'll still act surprised even if you tell me!"  
  
A rich tenor laugh escaped the father's lips and said, "No son, I can't tell you. You know, it won't be surprise if I told you what it was."  
  
A small pout was etched on the son's face, then he laughed and spoke, "All right..."  
  
They walked into Saint Mungo's hospital, found their way into the room of the mother and saw a baby girl with light ebony hair, bright onyx eyes, and rosy cheeks. She was laughing at every thing she saw. They walked up to the mother and the boy smiled and said, "This is my surprise? Wow! What's her name?"  
  
The woman smiled and tiredly said, "Now Severus, now that you have a little sister, we want you be careful with your magic... And we haven't decided yet on her name."  
  
Severus excitedly said, "I know what her name should be! Her name should be... Willow!"  
  
His mother smiled, turned to her husband and said, "What do you think, sweetie?"  
  
His father laughed again, turned to his wife, two children and said, "I think it's perfect."  
  
"Then that's her name!"  
  
Harry was shocked to find out DADA prof. had a younger sister, he knew that Snape had parents. (Obviously.) 'How come his family doesn't contact him or visit him?' Harry pondered.  
  
"I know what you must be thinking..." spoke the professor softly, "why haven't I had any contact with my family? You see, Voldemort learned of my interest in the dark arts from Lucius... He wanted me to join his cause and I refused once, and..."  
  
A single tear drop from Severus' eye and it fell into the pensieve. The tear created ripples in the memory strands. Harry put his hand on his professor's arm and comforted him and said soothingly, "I understand... My loss is kind of like yours..."  
  
Severus looked down at the understanding young adult and gave a small smile, "Thank you for your comfort. I appreciate your gesture... You know that this helps, but it won't bring them back..."  
  
The scene changed altogether by fast forwarding as soon as Severus finished speaking. It was when Severus was ten and his sister was five. The Snape family was at the same spot where Harry got his pensieve. A young witch did the same things that her descendants did after her, examine the recipients aura. Severus' was blue and red like fire and water representing passion and tranquillity. Willow's aura was pink and purple colours of her innocence to the evil soon to come and pain to come to her soul. While the children were discussing on how cool their newest possessions were; Alexander, their father watched them, it filled him with a serene feeling just being there with his family. He loved how his family was, he knew they loved they way it was too, but every now and then young Severus would feel a pain for no reason, then cry and want his whole family there...  
  
"That bastard murdered my family and now he's paid the price..." spat the bitter DADA professor.  
  
Professor Snape straightened his robe, cleared his throat and motioned Harry away from his pensieve. From that point on they reviewed the basics of occulmency until midnight. They drank some wine and Snape used a simple breath mint charm on Harry. Before going, Harry paused and looked up into his DADA professor's deep onyx eyes and searched for something in those eyes. He left the office and found his way to the Gryffindor dorm rooms. When he went to sleep he couldn't stop thinking about Snape.  
  
Meanwhile, at Severus' office, Severus found that he couldn't sleep. So he decided to go through his family's possessions, Severus' heart was heavy, he told himself that they were gone and nothing could be done about it. He also tried to tell himself that they were probably not feeling pain wherever they were. But that wasn't the case...  
  
"Oh honey, look our son is unhappy. I am sad, my love, our son knew the pleasures of the world and now... he's so depressed. Voldemort is gone but we're not there for the important parts in his life... Graduation, defeating the Dark Lord, and finding happiness at last." sobbed his mother watching her child from the above.  
  
"Our son, Marissa...He misses your comforting touch and my comforting words. We will pray for the one that the fates have chosen for him to help him. Someday we will visit him for a time then that will make him happier. But the gods say it is not time yet..." comforted Alexander.  
  
"Papa, I want to go down there and hug him and tell him that we're watching over him no matter what he does, I miss him papa..." cried Willow.  
  
"In time love, we'll do that soon, the gods will tell us when though. As we learned, everything has a reason, time and place." Alexander told them.  
  
The bottle of scotch in Severus' hand shattered magically. The scotch flowed over his hand and dripped to the floor. He cleaned the scotch up and walked around the private office and downed a glass of gin and tonic. He sat down at his desk went through the family possessions again. At the sight of these items he remembered many memories. He felt the anger that he buried for so many years rise up and decided take more vengeance on Voldemort. He apparated to the secret burial site of Voldemort and burned it down.  
  
In the darkness of the forest, two gleaming eyes watched the burning grave...  
  
Severus looked at the grave with hate because most of his life he had been living in fear of Voldemort, and sorrow of his family's death. He finally had the peace inside that he had been wanting for so long. Now knowing that his family rested in peace, he then apparated to their graves and watched the treetops swaying in the wind. The sun became brighter dispersing the darkness in the sky and the birds were singing unlike before he arrived at their grave standing there, his hair flying in the wind thinking, 'I am free at last, and my family is at rest ...'  
  
Or so he thought...  
  
Random A/N: OOOH! I know I'm no good at suspense but I thought this to be an ok way to end this...  
  
Harry: What does she mean by 'Or so he thought' ?  
  
Sev: Yes, what do YOU mean by that?  
  
Baka Otaku: Too bad. I'm not telling you, you just have to wait till the next chapter!  
  
Harry & Sev: Review pwease! (They chibify and their eyes grow watery, they look so kawaii you just can't refuse their request...) 


	5. The Wounds That Don't Seem To Heal

Chapter 5- The Wounds That Don't Seem To Heal  
  
Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, some OotP spoilers, slight hints of twinscest, AU, abuse, swearing (A lot of it here.) in-depth description of after abuse  
  
Disclaimer: (huggles imaginary dolls) I only own the books and my imaginary dolls! So for the love of god don't even think of suing me! J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter ideas etc.  
  
A/N: In this chapter Snape might be a tad OOC.  
  
Pairings: HP/SS, RW/HG, hints of GW/FW, & BZ/DM  
  
Archive: Anywhere as long as you get my PERMISSION to do so.  
  
Baka Otaku: You know what I've noticed?  
  
Severus: Let me guess... You always have this need to change your pen name.  
  
Baka Otaku: Yeah!  
  
Severus: I bet you your yami tells you to do that...  
  
Psychotic Otaku: Yes, that would be me. Why did you wake me up Severus?  
  
Sev: I did not...Don't you get summoned by your hikari?  
  
PsyO: TT... DON'T MAKE ME SEND YOU TO THE SHADOW REALM!!!  
  
Sev: He-e-ey...w....  
  
Harry: Wait a second PsyO!  
  
Sev: You stole my line Harry!!! ;;  
  
PsyO: What is it Harry? [Grinds teeth impatiently] I want to send Snape to the Shadow Realm!  
  
Harry: So what Sev?!? [Sticks out tongue] Anyways, the shadow realm isn't in our universe!  
  
PsyO: I'm the author's yami, so I can write it into your universe!!! (Well...only in my fics ;;)  
  
Baka Otaku: I don't think so...  
  
[Readers sweat drop TT Get to the bloody STORY already!!!]  
  
Baka Otaku: Aiight, Aiight! Don't you all run around after me trying to whack me on the head with brooms and frying pans!!  
  
A man in his late twenties was walking around flinging hexes and curses at everything in his sight. His eye colour changed according to his mood. Pale blue to dark greyish blue back to pale blue. "Damnit... I thought I specifically ordered you not to let the site become unguarded! It is burned to the ground, and now we cannot complete the ritual! You bloody worthless servant! CRUCIO!"  
  
The writhing servant cried out in pain, "I am very sorry my liege! I will make sure it will never happen again! ARGH!"  
  
"Silence, you fool! I think I have given you enough chances to prove yourself worthy of a Death Eater title, but no-o-o, you have wasted them foolishly, because you weren't careful enough! Do you want to end up like Wormtail? Dead and disrespected amongst our ranks? His grave is spat upon because he betrayed us at the last moment of the War. Do you know what they say about him? They say that he saw the error of his ways and performed the Avada Kedavra curse on Voldemort. And after that the Death Eaters cornered him and murdered him. But now I ask, is the one of the greatest Dark Lords dead? I don't know! His grave is burned! GET OUT! OUT! NOW!" yelled the newest Dark Lord.  
  
The terrified servant scampered out of the room, whimpering in pain. Another servant walked into the room, bowed and said, "My liege, I have news from our spy. I have heard that the traitor Severus Snape is at his family's grave right now...And he has word from that fool Dumbledore that Severus is teaching Harry occlumency again. My lord, we will have our power soon and it will be a glorious return!" he said.  
  
"Very well, this may be the best news I've heard yet...Summon my son to me. And make sure he isn't trying to pack up and leave to live with his mother. And as for Harry, the bloody brat must be stopped at all costs of becoming a legilimens and skilled at occlumency. I want to kill him myself for tarnishing my reputation!" the blue-eyed man snarled.  
  
After a few minutes a young trembling blonde was pushed roughly through the doors of the blue-eyed Dark Lord's chamber. The blonde bowed and quickly said, "Father... I heard that you um, requested for my presence?"  
  
"My dear son, have a little more confidence in your father, he's doing just fine being the new Dark Lord, are you not proud? And have more confidence in yourself besides you're still very popular with the Slytherins and are the son of a Dark Lord! I want you to aid me in killing that obnoxious brat Harry. I want you to help the Dark side regain its influence on the world, to kill those annoying Mudbloods and Muggles and so much more! Draco, your reputation with others is not tarnished like mine is, influence others to do your bidding while you can before someone else does...We will become rich, powerful and influential once again because that whore you call a mother took all of the Malfoy fortune!" Lucius answered.  
  
Draco tightened his lips into a frown when he heard his father insult his mother. He took a breath and said, "But father, I don't want..."  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you?!? Narcissa is brain washing you! She divorced me because I know she joined the Dark side only to keep her sister out of trouble and you know what? She managed to do so! Then Bellatrix married a wizard from the light side and then they were accused of [does that quotation thingy] committing a crime. The thing is, they never did, and they were locked up for life when they were under the imperius curse. They were under the curse because they were planning on joining that damned Order of the Phoenix before they even got married but luckily, Voldemort caught them! Then your aunt and uncle became insane and all they had left to remember was that they were under Voldemort's power. When Voldemort died, they became sane again, and now you're telling me that you want to be like your mother and your aunt?!?" Lucius snarled.  
  
Draco couldn't answer but he still had his lips tightened into a frown because his father had insulted his mother again and had insulted his aunt. Lucius stepped closer to his son and grabbed the collar of Draco's shirt and tightened it. Draco was gasping for air and Lucius snarled once again. "You disobedient little bastard... You and your mother's family don't know what true power is...My own son! My own son, a disgrace to the Malfoy name!"  
  
Lucius threw his son at the wall and the force of the impact created a fairly deep and large dent in the wall. Lucius took out his wand and walked right up to Draco and waved his wand right in Draco's face. "So?"  
  
"I still don't want..."  
  
"Wrong answer. CRUCIO!"  
  
"AHH! NO! PLEASE STOP FATHER!!!"  
  
"You worthless piece of shit. I don't think you've learned your lesson... Stand up, I said stand up you thick-headed boy!"  
  
Draco stood wobbly and his father grabbed his arm and pointed his wand at his arm. He muttered a spell that made Draco whimper in pain. In the place where the pain was, there was a mark. It was a three-headed snake with blood dripping off its fangs. "Let's see if it works...Go to your room boy!"  
  
Draco hurried to his room and waited for his father to conduct his experiment. He felt intense pain; he looked at the mark and saw that the blood on the fangs was actually dripping off. He touched the blood and felt the red substance, he wiped the blood on his robe on a spot where there was already blood and found that it was his own blood. He ran to his father's chambers and screamed, "What the hell have you done to me?!?"  
  
Lucius just stood there with a mad glint in his eyes. He chuckled darkly and walked to Draco. His son flinched in fear. "Why Draco, that's the new Dark Mark...The first one I ever gave out...Now you're one of us..."  
  
Draco's eyes grew wide in horror and he screamed, "You selfish bastard!!!"  
  
The mad glint in Lucius' eyes grew stronger and he walked close enough to his son and said, "What? You're not happy with the gift I gave you?"  
  
Lucius beat his son even more. He beat Draco to the point where the teenager was half-dead. He apparated the unconscious teenager to Hogsmeade then walked to Hogwarts with Draco in his arms limp bloodied and bruised. He entered the Great Hall and dropped the teen roughly onto the floor. Draco whimpered in pain but that wasn't good enough for his father, so Lucius ended up kicking the poor bloke in the ribs. Draco let out a sharp cry of pain "AUGH!"  
  
Harry was strolling in the corridors near the Great Hall in the castle because it was part of his duties of being a Head Boy. He patrolled the corridors with the prefects because it was his turn to do so. Draco's cry reached his ears and he rushed to the Great Hall. There he saw Draco in his bad state and saw Dumbledore there also. Dumbledore ordered Harry to get Minerva, Severus and Poppy. He rushed to get Minerva; she stopped what she was doing immediately and ran to the Great Hall, Poppy grabbed some potions. When Harry ran to Severus' office, Severus thought something was odd. Head Boys/Girls on patrol don't usually rush to Head of the Houses except their own...They only go to other Heads except if a student from their own house violated a rule or they happen to be hurt. "Sir...Draco...hurt..."  
  
Severus' eyes widened and ran to the Great Hall. "Come Harry, this is very urgent, I have to attend to Draco's condition along with Mme Pomfrey. And as for you, you must help me, we need all the help we can get. I don't trust the other students. They're all daft, they can't handle the sight of blood, but sooner or later they will have to. But you, Harry... you're something special, you're different because you've seen and know things they don't know of..."  
  
"Um..." was all Harry could say. He was a bit shocked that the DADA professor called him Harry and was actually nice to him for a change. Harry didn't want to push his luck so he kept his mouth shut. He could sense the distress that Severus had. He followed the Potions Master quietly thinking who could have done such a thing to Draco and that he actually going to have some real medical experience in nursing. They arrived at the Great Hall and saw Draco whimpering in pain. Severus rushed by the blonde's side, checked his wounds, casted a levitating charm on Draco, so he couldn't make Draco's condition worse. The blonde's hair was matted with blood, and every time he coughed, some blood spilled out.  
  
"Is he alright Mme Pomfrey?" Harry asked. He felt angry at who did this to Draco. He felt sympathy for Draco because someone hurt him. Not everyday, but each summer before the Weasleys came to get him. But just thinking about his own abuse made him angrier and sadder. He wanted to keep his own abuse to himself, hoping that he wouldn't worry the professors more with his problems. He watched Severus carry Draco to the infirmary and followed the others there.  
  
Poppy replied with concern in her voice, "It's bad alright Harry, but I don't know exactly when he will be healed...We need to get a medi-witch or wizard here fast..."  
  
Turning to Minerva, she asked the deputy head mistress if she could floo to St.Mungo's to explain their situation and to get a medi-witch or wizard to Hogwarts. The head mistress grabbed her cloak from her office and departed to the magical hospital.  
  
About five minutes later, a medi-witch and her apprentice took Draco to St. Mungo's. Early, the next morning, the head boys, girls and prefects had a meeting concerning the young Malfoy. Severus, Minerva and the head master were present at the meeting. 'I guess more professors probably mean the meeting will be more serious...' Harry thought. They discussed about how the Slytherins would act towards the Gryffindors and about the fact that Pansy Parkinson was distraught over the fact that 'her' Draco was 'attacked' by mean, vicious Gryffindors. Everyone frowned at Pansy's accusation, the Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry wasn't strong as it used to be before the war. The rivalry was only tradition, so to over egg the pudding, it was kind of playful. They continued on to the point of the problems that might arise and how they would solve them. As the meeting ended, Severus pulled Harry aside from his friends and said with a somewhat worried tone, "Potter, I noticed that you were a bit uneasy during this meeting... What's wrong?"  
  
"Draco's hurt...I wonder who did this to him?" Harry replied softly. He was thinking about his last summer with the Dursley's and what was to become of him after Hogwarts.  
  
"Potter, it was Lucius..." Harry's eyes flashed with mixed emotions. Severus saw this reaction to Lucius' name and continued to speak as calmly as possible as he could, "The papers for Draco's custody are still being processed... Everyone knows about his parents' divorce, it was in the news, shortly after the demise of the Dark Lord, Potter. I think Draco is being abused."  
  
The colour drained from Harry's face, his knees felt weak, and a small voice in his head repeated the last word the Potions Master said, 'Abused...abused...abused' It started to annoy Harry quite a bit so he decided to sit down to regain his thoughts. The reaction was quite puzzling to Severus, sure Draco and Harry got along, but why was Harry taking it hard? A small voice in Severus' head said, 'The boy! His relatives don't accept the magic, maybe they abuse him, but you have to let him tell him on your own, you don't want to destroy the civility you two have now...' Snape cursed his mentality towards Harry and asked the young adult, "What's wrong Potter?" "Um...Nothing." Harry lied.  
  
"Don't lie to me, I'm also skilled at legilimency too! It's not like I only know occlumency, why do you think I know why the students lie to me? Harry, just tell me what's wrong and I promise I won't tell anyone. Just tell me. Please." Severus coaxed the teenager.  
  
Harry looked into the deep onyx eyes, blinked and sighed, "My uncle and cousin, they hurt me every summer... Every time anything that is related to magic is mentioned under the house, they hurt me..."  
  
The annoying little voice came back and yelped, 'AHA! So he is abused! What about his aunt? Ask the boy Severus! Go on!' Snape worked his jaw and cursed his mentality again and asked Harry about his aunt. "She doesn't do anything really, she just takes Dudley's side, makes me cook breakfast, yells at me and that's pretty much about it."  
  
Severus was just a little shocked at how Harry described how his relatives treated him, the teen told Severus as if it were nothing to him. Snape sighed and said, "Potter, Occlumency lesson, 30 minutes after dinner."  
  
Harry watched the DADA professor leave the table they were sitting at to join the other professors for breakfast. Harry rose from his seat and subconsciously rubbed the last place where Vernon had hit him. He walked to the Gryffindor table. Harry noticed that his manner of walking was different now than before the war. Before, it used to be somewhat clumsy, and his cloak would billow in an unorderly fashion unlike Snape's. When Harry walked it was sort of a glide, stealthy and quiet like a cat prowling in the night time. It was fast paced, because in previous years he had to walk fast to avoid many dangers in those years, like... Mrs. Norris, Snape, Death Eaters, and other things amongst that.  
  
At the Gryffindor table, Ron and Hermione looked up from where they sat and asked him why the potions master pulled him aside. Harry replied to their question after he sat down and got food onto his plate, "He just wanted to tell me that I have an Occlu...erm, a remedial potions lesson tonight."  
  
Harry knew why he had to cover up the fact that he was still taking Occlumency, the ministry was keeping a close eye on the school now, but the only way they could was through Dumbledore. He also knew that the walls had ears, and if anybody wasn't careful enough with what they said or did, the whole school would be screwed over in all nine hells. Everybody had a suspicion that the idiotic minister had put some of the ministry up to spying on the school.  
  
Ron and Hermione nodded their heads signalling to Harry that they had heard him. They ate breakfast like any other mornings with Ron and Hermione chatting each other up but there were two things that weren't normal but it took the trained eye to spot it out. Meanwhile, at the professors' table Severus was poking at his food, like he always does. ("Leave it up to those house elves to cook what Albus orders for me, not what I order for myself") What Harry told him was bothering him, he stole a few glances at Harry. He saw that the brilliant emerald eyes didn't have their usual fire. Then the little voice started to annoy him again and Severus soon entered a shouting match with himself. Sad, but true. [A/N: Doesn't that happen to you sometimes? To me? Yeah, that happens.]  
  
Harry felt eyes watching him, so he tried to tune out the paranoia that he was feeling. That didn't work, so he turned around and scanned the room for people watching him. He shook his head in frustration, mentally repeating the mantra, 'I'm not paranoid, I'm not paranoid, I'm not paranoid' Snape saw this and decided to stop throwing worried glances in Harry's direction. Harry no longer felt the paranoia that he was feeling and continued to eat.  
  
After Harry ate, he left the Great Hall to gather his books and things for the day. First, he had Transfiguration, they were busy studying on decorative charms, like transforming an uncomfortable chair into something nicer. He made his way to Professor McGonagall's classroom. Once he was there, he set his book bag on the floor and sat down at his desk. He reached into his bag and got his 'Advanced Transfiguration: Advancing to a New Level' text book out.  
  
He flipped through the pages looking for the spell he wanted to practice. When Harry found the spell, he thought, 'Thank Merlin these spells we're learning are only temporary...' He got out of his chair and chanted, "Transformus furniturus!"  
  
"Mr. Potter, I didn't know that you come to classes early to perfect your spells..."  
  
Harry froze in his place, he didn't hear anything for a minute or two. He wanted to turn around and see who had said that to him. He could practically feel the smile on the owner of the voice's face. Then he heard it again. "Boo."  
  
"YAA!" Harry screamed and jumped in his spot. He felt strong hands hold him in his place and tried to run but he heard the voice again, "Relax, you're overreacting, it's only me, the greasy git."  
  
Harry turned around with a look of annoyance on his face. He advanced on Professor Snape with his wand pointed at Snape's chest and said with mock- deadliness, "Never ever do that to me again..."  
  
Harry's lips were moving and as Severus saw this, he knew Harry would jinx him or curse him, but he wouldn't be cursed that badly but he was prepared for what would come his way. "Orchideous!"  
  
Or not... Severus was quite dumbfounded at how Harry had tricked him into thinking that he would be cursed instead of the raven haired teen conjuring a bouquet of flowers. "Wha-a-a?!?"  
  
Harry smirked and cackled evilly, "Mwahaha! Mission accomplished!"  
  
Severus made his way to Professor McGonagall's desk and put a Pepper-Up potion on her desk. Harry turned to him and asked, "Shouldn't you be down in the dungeons brooding and making potions?"  
  
Professor Snape smirked, turned to the raven haired teen and said, "Yes, you twit, I have be down in the dungeons but not brooding and making potions. I have to be down there making lesson plans for those incompetent first years who I have next period. Every time they learn a new spell, they just have to test it out. And Professor McGonagall is very tired because the first year Slytherins keep on jinxing each other with the Jelly-Legs. "  
  
Harry turned to him with his lips formed in a small 'o' and said, "Why does it sound like you're happy at the fact that the Slytherins can use one particular jinx?"  
  
"At least they can do something right, Potter. Last week, although Professor McGonagall teaches Transfiguration, she thought it would liven up her class if she taught them how to use the Rictusempra jinx. When they came to my class they kept on casting it on each other! I couldn't teach a single bloody thing! Now we've sunk to the level of the students... At least the classes aren't that boring anymore... To tell you the truth those Weasley twins actually made the classes interesting... And now they're a legend of Hogwarts, just like the Marauders [rolls his eyes] Don't tell anyone that I don't want to be pestered about it... Oh, and by the way Potter, nice chair..."  
  
Harry looked at his chair and saw that he was sitting in a neon pink chair, 'Ugh! I hate pink and neon colours!' he thought and set to change his chair into a much better colour. The chair then had silver and gold intertwined with each other for the legs, and the arms were the same too and the cushions were red outlined with green. "This'll do for Transfiguration." He plopped himself into his chair and started reading through his text book to wait for the others.  
  
(A/N: I wonder what colours these could represent? I know... PsyO: QUIET! This was put in for making the story longer so these details weren't really necessary... [glares at her hikari])  
  
A couple of minutes later Professor McGonagall walked into the class with the rest of the seventh year Gryffindors. She saw Harry in his seat reading and awarded 5 points for being early for class instead of being there running into class as the class was starting. She took out her things wrote some instructions on the board because it was an independent study day. She cleared her throat and every body looked in her direction and she started to speak, "I have a few announcements to make. Since it's nearing Quidditch season, we need to find people for our team. Almost all of the people in our team have graduated from Hogwarts and we need new team members, and I have the pleasure of announcing our new captain, Harry Potter. [whoops of joy and she holds up her hand to silence them, & they shut up.] Tryouts are this weekend, to sign up please talk to Harry. I have received word from the DA members that they are changing their name and are looking for more members again, talk to Harry since he came up with the group. And at the end of November, there will be a Hogsmeade weekend."  
  
Now at this time, Harry's mind was wandering, he was thinking of what would become of him after he graduated and what it would have been like if he was actually put into Slytherin. He looked around his class and saw Dean and Seamus fooling around, Ron muttering about his detention with Professor Trelawney since he broke half of the crystal balls she owned, Neville trying to perfect his spells, Hermione frantically scribbling notes onto pieces of parchment and the rest of the class doing random things. He looked at the board and saw Minerva erasing what she put on the board, after she had done that she drank the Potion on her desk and set to put the work up on the board for the Slytherins. He looked around once again and saw everybody packing their belongings. He got up from his desk and packed his belongings, joined his friends and left the classroom. He turned to them and asked, "What you guys say if I was resorted into Slytherin?"  
  
His friends stopped in their tracks and looked at him as if he sprouted another head. They both asked why and Harry replied, "Well you see, at the Sorting Ceremony the Sorting Hat wanted to put me into Slytherin and well... I didn't want to be sorted into Slytherin because all of the stuff I kept on hearing from people, people in Slytherin go bad... etc. So now I was just wondering what it would actually be like..."  
  
"It doesn't matter which house you're in as long as you're still you. I was so close to being sorted into Ravenclaw that I actually begged the Sorting Hat not to put me there because I knew I didn't want to get stuck with people who are competitive academically... Have you seen Terry Boot? He's in my arithmancy class and he practically competes with me in that class! Half of the people in my arithmancy class are in Ravenclaw and they all want to compete with each other!" Hermione answered.  
  
"Maybe a few years ago I would've exploded by now, but after the war I figured Slytherin people aren't that bad. Really 'Mione? Ravenclaws are like that? They're competitive? They can't compete against you, you're too much of a brianiac to go up against..." Ron said.  
  
"Ron!!!" Hermione squealed, and hit his arm lightly, as they were going off their separate ways, the couple kissed and giggled like 5 year olds.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes and laughed at his best friends. They soon went their own ways, Hermione to arithmancy and Ron and Harry off to Divinations. Ron was rambling on and on to pass the time with Harry at the base of the Divinations tower. "So Harry? Have you finished your essay on the crystal ball? Bloody hell! Just because I accidentally tripped and bumped into the shelf where she kept her crystal balls doesn't mean she has to give me detention for the week! And every time Parvati and Lavender walk near my table they smack me! It's not fair!"  
  
"Hey, at least she gave you detention for the week, remember Crabbe? He broke her favorite tea sets and he got a month and he still has to serve 2 more weeks! Poor bloke...As for Parvati and Lavender, thank Merlin it's not Padma also, I hear when she smacks someone when she's annoyed, she hits real hard."  
  
Both boys shuddered just thinking about how Padma's strength. Five minutes passed and they saw the rest of their class and Ron was smacked on the head by Parvati and Lavender. Twice by Parvati. "That was from Padma! Humph!" They heard the creaking noise of door being opened for the tower and climbed up the silver ladder into the classroom. They could smell the incense and heavy perfume that clouded the classroom. They all sat on the overly plump pouffes and armchairs and looked at their tables.  
  
They were doing some more reviewing but this time it was going over the patterns in the tea leaves. Harry's stomach lurched, and thought back to his third year. The Grim had predicted a death but not his, it had predicted Sirius' death. Professor Trelawney handed them tea cups charmed so that if they were dropped they wouldn't break for the duration of the class. Instead most of the students were studying for other subjects like their upcoming test in Herbology while some others like Parvati were taking advantage of this time to rest, goof off and do nothing. The curtains for the classroom were open and a cool autumn breeze swished over the students and the classroom. At least the strong smell was being ventilated.  
  
After Divinations the seventh year Gryffindors made their way to the old DADA classroom to have potions. While all the guys were busy drooling over their potions teacher, the girls were getting annoyed and had to snap them back to reality by pulling them by their arms into the classroom.  
  
Tehnee was a respected teacher amongst the students, the girls liked her because they saw that she could relate to them much more easily than any other female member of the staff and sometimes, during her classes she'd give out little tips for all the girls, like beauty and stuff like that [A/N: Gee, I wish I had a teacher like that, one that makes school interesting...] Obviously the guys liked her too, because she was good looking, and during her classes she didn't forget about the guys too, she also gave them interesting facts about quidditch teams and other stuff guys are interested in. Enough of describing her, let's get back to the story...  
  
Ron was daydreaming in class again, and it was annoying Hermione quite a bit, she splashed some water on Ron's face. Ron exited dreamland and helped his girlfriend set up their work area. The potion they were making was a fairly complex one, and it was a salve to heal burns. Harry looked at the board, it read:  
  
'Burn Salve Turn to page eighty-two in your text book and make notes on the information about this salve, then make it and hand the notes in. (The potion, if you aren't finished by the end of this class, you will have by the end of Friday. By no later date will I accept them!) When your batch is done and if you put in your phial, I'd like for you to vial it so after I mark them, I can give the good batches to Mme Pomfrey, because she told me that Professor Snape has not supplied her with a sufficient amount of it. I wonder why?  
  
N.B- Also if you have some extra after putting in your phial, please put the rest in extra phials depending on how much you have.  
  
Tip of the day for the girls: I suggest using glossy lip colours instead of matte, but if you use matte colours, it's ok, use them if you want to tone down your look. Glossy lip colours bring out the fullness of your lips.  
  
Tip of the day for the blokes: If you are arguing with your friends about facts about quidditch, I suggest that you get 'Quidditch: Facts, Moves, Manoeuvres and World Records!' by Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies. (She went to Hogwarts and when she was writing this book, she did extensive research on Quidditch. This book is not opinionated in any way whatsoever!)'  
  
Harry smiled at the tip of the day for the blokes because Ron, Seamus, Dean, and a few other guys -including himself- argued about Quidditch every now and then. He looked across the room and saw Blaise putting up with Pansy's whining about how Draco was still recuperating in the hospital. 'I hope Draco's ok.' Harry thought. He turned to his text and read the text to himself mentally:  
  
'Burn Salves (For all burns)  
This salve was created by a wizard back in the early 1500's by a wizard who ran an apothecary in Essex who burned himself quite often trying to create new potions and in making discoveries. There are many variations to the burn salve, but the one you will learn is for all types of burns. This takes some time to make, at least two to three days. Your potions master in your school should have all the ingredients necessary for the it since some of them are semi-rare, which means a few of them will be limited in quantity at stores that sell these ingredients.  
  
The more rare and powerful salves are sometimes coloured reddish-orange-ish due to the fact that the pigmentation comes from the healing properties of the finely ground phoenix feather, most of the other ingredients are usually colourless unless you can find another ingredient that has healing properties. In most salves, they are usually coloured orange because of the herbs and other ingredients and when they are mixed together they create an orange colour.  
  
All salves come in different strengths, at wizarding facilities like schools and workplaces, they use an all purpose type whereas at home you can find a weak type. Certain wizarding companies sell these items with different colours so customers can tell which strength it is. When this cream is applied, the thickness of the application varies on how severe the burn is. Now after having read this, you now know a little bit on this creation that has an everyday use in our lives.'  
  
Harry looked around the classroom and sighed. He closed his eyes and stretched a bit, after he felt more relaxed, he started making notes on what he had read. After he made the notes he handed them in and started to do the assignment. He looked at his book and read:  
  
'Burn Salve  
This is the most basic form one can make, the ones you can buy are more complex but to graduate from school you need to learn the most basic form because for any job because you need to be prepared when you join the workforce. You never know when you might get burned!  
  
Apparatus needed: Cauldron (size 2 is good enough) A phial or two Scales to measure your ingredients Stirring apparatus Pestle and Mortar (certain ingredients need to be ground into powder or crushed) Knife  
  
Ingredients: 2 drops of 'Skin-Gro' (it's quite strong, usually used for numerous openings in the skin, 10 sickles) 4 grams of finely ground unicorn horn (use a 25 year old unicorn's horn, very hard to find since most of the ones I've seen are at least 50 years old or older.) A chopped oleander root, and crushed into a thick pulp Pinch of powdered horn of the bicorn (hard to get off any potions master or apothecary, since as their names imply, they have 2 horns and well...they have a tendency to try and gore the person that tries to break off their horn. They're proud creatures and love to show off their horns) A cauldronful of water (size 1) 10 ground dried nettles A drop of a phoenix's tear (They don't cry that often, they're always happy & singing, trust me, I know on first hand experience)  
  
Procedure: Boil your water While your water is warming up, prepare your ingredients Once your water is bubbling, add your dried nettles one by one for each minute that passes by. (It's ok, of you're about 10 seconds off.) Add the bicorn Stir your potion for 2 straight minutes so that the water turns a light shade of blue (Blue?!? Now that's weird!) Add your oleander root, & when it is added the steam from your cauldron should be reddish-orangish Add your 2 drops of 'Skin-Gro' Mix all the ingredients in well (stir for about a minute or two) Keep on stirring and add the powdered unicorn horn for every two minutes.  
N.B- At this point the timing is very important! Now at this point the water should have evaporated by a quarter and the mixture should be slowly turning orange. Keep on stirring, it may be a tiring job, but keep on doing it! When about 10-15 minutes have passed with your almost continual stirring, the mixture should now be a wet residue at the bottom of your cauldron Wait 5 minutes and it should be dry. Now add the phoenix tear. Now you can put the stuff into a phial! '  
  
After Harry read the instructions he set doing his work. He followed the instructions as stated and halfway during the class, he looked around and saw that Neville had no problem doing the assigned work. Maybe the change of position with Snape had been a good thing, although Voldemort was gone, Snape still had this arrogant air about him, and that made Harry think about whether Voldemort was really gone or not. He shook his head and continued working. He finished and handed in 2 vials to Professor Dumbledore (the daughter). For the rest of the class, he studied for his Herbology test they had that week.  
  
When the bell rang the golden trio set out for the Gryffindor tower. Pansy Parkinson tried to trip Hermione along the way but Hermione avoided her. 'Pansy is pretty obsessed about Draco... She's reading all his signs all wrong. I think Blaise knows that Draco has a crush on him and I think those feelings are the same for Blaise, I wonder if they'll ever tell Pansy that Draco has absolutely no interest in her?' Harry thought seeing this act of hostility from Pansy. He shook his head and gathered his stuff for his History class. He and his friends met in the common room and went to the Great Hall for lunch. But they didn't know that one of their year was coming back again...  
  
Baka Otaku: I think that was the longest chapter I ever wrote in my entire life!  
  
PsyO: Yeah, because you're too lazy to type it up.  
  
Baka: Grr...  
  
Sev: Now, Now, ladies..... You need not get all aggressive....  
  
PsyO: Stay out of this you moron!  
  
(Scene censored due to acts extreme violence)  
  
Baka Otaku sits on a bench eating candy looking like she never did anything wrong while PsyO is huddled in a corner insanely muttering 'Noo! Not the broomstick! Anything but that! YAA!'  
  
Severus: [rolls his eyes] Why on earth do I even know these people?  
  
After 5 minutes, the Harry Potter cast is singing to the tune of Jingle Bells :  
  
'Please review! Oh what fun it is to review for this story!'  
  
(modified for disk space on my hard drive)  
  
PsyO: PSHAW! Yeah right! You [points to H.P cast] know that that's not going to work since that's the lamest way to ask for a review!  
  
All look at their feet and go 'Like pshaw! People, she's so totally right!'  
  
(Sorry, I've gone a bit ditzy over the past couple of days... So please forgive me. )  
  
Baka Otaku's and PsyO's final message b4 our next chapter:  
  
PSHAW! Like keep it mellow! 


	6. Special Thanks

Replies to...  
  
FandomAvenger: Thanks for the pointers, I'll keep those in mind!  
  
Ice Lupus: By now, you should have read more of the story and the first chapter would have made sense...  
  
selua: True, the pensieves would be expensive!  
  
kenzolover: By now you should have seen all four chapters...  
  
Jeanne: Thanks, I hope you enjoy the rest of it!  
  
Shuki - aka Quickjewel: Thank you, I hope you find other parts funny  
  
Jess16: LOL, this isn't a pwp fic! Or, unless you're against this stuff, why did you even bother reading this?  
  
Mikee: I'm happy that you think that this shows promise  
  
Lover of Solid Snake: Good god, what was I thinking?!? Stupid yami. [Psychotic Otaku: ZZZ...Hunh? What? Never mind....ZZZ]  
  
Lady Slone of Snow Mt: I'm glad that you liked it  
  
hortauk: I certainly will!  
  
lilcritic: I dunno, I haven't planned that out and I'm too lazy to...  
  
Serpent of Light: Really? I think I can't write humor but I'm glad that you think it's humorous  
  
Caster: I KNOW! They are kawaii aren't they? I agree with you, just plain evil! I don't mind the ramble  
  
Theitchyandscratchyshow: I'll keep that in mind  
  
wanderingwolf: Thank you, I'll try to remember that he is one. 


	7. Building of Strength

**Chapter 6- Building of Strength **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter only my imaginary stuffed animals and the

book set.

**Warning:** OOC Snape, slash/yaoi, A/U; mild swearing

Severus: I'm surprised you even got around to typing this.

Baka Otaku: I'm sorry for not updating in a super long time.

Severus: Not to mention school and your laziness kept you from typing this up.

Baka Otaku: Doesn't me writing the first part of the chapter count for

anything?

Severus: You wrote it during the classes you found were boring. Don't you think

you should pay more attention in class?

Baka Otaku: It's not my fault that I have an attention span of a freaking

gopher!

Severus: Too bad there's no such thing as a Concentration Draught in your

world.

Baka Otaku: Stop TEASING me!

Psychotic Otaku: Let's go on with the story. This is boring me and the rest of the

audience.

As the Golden trio went down from the Gryffindor Tower, they heard a commotion from the direction of the Great Hall. As they entered it, they saw the sixth year and seventh year slytherins crowded around the main entrance. Harry looked at the figure emerging from the crowd and saw the Slytherin prince walking his way. "Potter I need to talk to you" Draco said gruffly

Hermione and Ron looked at the two, wondering why they needed to talk privately. It wasn't spoken but it was implied. Normally, if Draco had something to say, he would say right in people's faces. Draco saw Hermione and her boyfriend's confusion and said, "Don't worry you two, we won't be long."

When Draco had found an area that he considered private enough for them to talk, Harry asked Draco why he had dragged him all over the castle to for a secluded spot for a private conversation. "Simple Potter. I need to talk to you about that night you found me nearly dead…" He rolled up his left sleeve and said, "Do you see this?" Harry looked at Draco's face and saw the intense hate burning in his eyes. "Yes Draco, I do."

"This Harry… is the new Dark Mark. There are new evil forces building up in secret which means we need to revive the Order of the Phoenix. Since I hear that you have 'remedial potions' again… I think that you can alert Snape this way and Dumbledore too."

Harry nodded his head and Draco said, "I know you understand the seriousness of this situation and we as a magical community need to watch out. My father is the new Dark Lord and he and his thugs are very eager to kill you off. Now that Snape is a known traitor to the Dark Side, he cannot resume his duties as a spy anymore. So… It looks like I have to take them now. To tell you the truth Harry… I'm very worried about this whole thing…"

Harry looked at Draco and saw that he face was cold and emotionless. But he also saw that Draco's eyes were full of sadness and fear. Draco looked at his watch and said, "We should get going to our seats so we don't raise any suspicion… you know as well as I do that there might still be spies lurking around the school and in our community. "

The two returned to their seats at their respective seats at their table. Shortly after they returned, the staff entered the Great Hall and sat in their seats until the head master remained standing. "Well… it seems like out slytherin head boy has returned. I'd like to call a meeting later on tonight most certainly after dinner. The people whom I'd like to attend the meeting shall be owled later on in the day. You may now eat your lunch."

The golden trio's couple looked at Harry and asked him what he and Draco talked about. "Do you remember that meeting we had earlier this month?

The one where the head boys, girls and prefects attended? We talked about that."

Hermione and Ron nodded their heads and ate their lunch. Harry looked around and his attention fell on Draco, who was also being watched by some of the professors especially Severus. Draco was constantly rubbing his left forearm and kept on glancing at it. Severus frowned, 'Something's not right…' he thought to himself worriedly. He looked at his colleagues and found that they too were watching Draco too. They caught each other's attention and gave a curt nod to show that they were thinking the same thing.

After lunch, the golden trio went to their History of Magic class and sat in their usual place which was at the back of the classroom. Professor Binns floated through the chalkboard and the lesson began. Ten minutes later, a young wizard with auburn hair and blue eyes entered the classroom. "Hi… I'm sorry, but am I interrupting this class?"

The Gryffindors turned around in their seats and looked at him while shaking their heads. Professor Binns was still droning on and on not noticing anything. The wizard whistled softly and said quietly, but loud enough for the students to hear, "Well, it looks like Dad didn't replace Professor Binns yet… Tehnee, Holly and I keep on telling him to replace the poor ghost with someone else, but he never does…I wonder why…"

All the students looked at him in shock and sat there gaping at him. He noticed that they were sitting there in shock and said, "Erm… I didn't really introduce myself did I?" The students shook their heads. The wizard smiled apologetically, "Sorry about that. I'm Wyatt Dumbledore and it's nice to meet you all. I'm the apprentice of Professor Binns here, whom I've had as a professor when I was your age. He was still alive back then though."

Ron exclaimed out in surprise, "Why are you the apprentice of Binns? He's so boring!"

The ghost who still was teaching the lesson looked up from his text book and said, "Mr. Weasely, I do not appreciate you interrupting a teacher while he's teaching the lesson. Five points from Gryffindor."

The whole class groaned loudly and Wyatt said, "How about if you guys can keep quiet for the whole class, I'll give you 10 house points?"

The students nodded and Wyatt turned to Ron replying, "I'm his apprentice because of two things. First of all, I want to teach just like my sisters and my dad. And secondly of all, since my father won't replace some one, my siblings and I just decided that one of us should just be an apprentice to replace Professor Binns."

"One of your sisters teaches here, where does your other sister teach?" Hermione asked.

"Oh. Holly teaches at Beauxbatons."

"Wow."

Professor Binns looked up and said, "Wyatt Dumbledore, I haven't seen you in years. I presume that you are here to teach?"

"Yes sir, I am."

"I want to stop teaching and do things I've wanted to do for some time now. I will be teaching until you can get your license."

The Gryffindors did a mental jump for joy, smiled and turned to Wyatt, asking him if he could start teaching right away. Wyatt laughed and said, "Sure, I'll start tomorrow. I already have done my studies and all I need to do is the practical studies and then write the exam."

As the lesson went on, Harry spaced out like the other students but he kept on seeing flashes of outlines of two people talking to each other then merging. His scar began to hurt and he began thinking to himself hazily, 'Why is my scar hurting? I thought that Voldemort was dead…' His vision soon became blurred and the last thing he could remember was the darkness overpowering him.

"Harry? Harry? Wake up! It's time to go!" Hermione yelled.

"Something's not right…" Wyatt said, "I'll get my father and anybody else that I can find."

A couple minutes later, Severus, Minerva and Albus and his two children rushed and pushed their way into the crowd of Gryffindors crowding around the unconscious Harry. Snape was getting a little fed up with the crowd of students so he roared as loudly as he could, "GET THE BLOODY HELL OUT OF OUR WAY! THERE IS A YOUNG MAN WHO IS CURRENTLY UNCONCIOUS AND IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF OUR WAY I WILL BLOODY GIVE YOU ALL DETENTION AND YOU WILL GET 50 POINTS TAKEN FROM YOU!"

After he yelled the students quickly moved out of the professors' way and the professors got him to the infirmary. "Poppy! Harry's unconscious!"

"WHAT? He hasn't had to come here once for serious medical attention since You-Know-Who was killed!" Poppy said dropping some things she was carrying. Hermione and Ron tagged along and Mme Pomfrey shooed them out telling them that they could visit Harry when they were asked to.

An hour or two later, Harry woke up and saw that the lights were extremely bright and that there were people peering down on him. He heard someone exclaim. "He's awake!"

Harry groggily moaned, "…Where am I?"

Ron replied, "You're in the infirmary Harry. You blacked out during History. Half of the girls screamed because they thought you were dead… I was pretty worried… What happened?"

Harry bolted up in his bed and said, "Where's the Headmaster? I need to tell him something…"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Albus say, "I'm right here. My son came to fetch me. Tell me Harry, why did you faint?"

"My scar acted up during History and it hurt really badly too. I kept on seeing flashes of outlines of two people talking and then merging into one person." Harry said anxiously, "But… I thought my scar only hurt when Voldemort was mad or nearby…Voldemort should be dead, and this shouldn't be happening to me…"

The headmasters look turned from a concerned one to a grave one. "True Tom is dead. Something has not been right since the beginning of the school year, and I can feel it in my bones Harry. Unless… there is some dark force that we have not yet learned about… I have owled the people I wish to see at the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters. Don't forget about the meeting scheduled for tonight. I have scheduled it after your 'remedial potions' lesson.

Mme Pomfrey came into the area where the group crowded around Harry's bed and shooed them out. Harry slept for an hour and left the infirmary to go back to the dormitory. Once he was on the seventh floor, he saw the sign up sheet for the DA club and saw that there were a lot of people who wanted to join. There some names that he could recognize and some that he could not, but the thing that pleased him the most was that there was a mix of people from the different houses.

He walked to the portrait of the Fat Lady and said the password. The portrait swung open and Harry entered the Common Room. The Gryffindors looked at the entrance and fell silent. Harry was feeling very nervous with all the Gryffindors at the room looking at him. Hermione looked up from her book with a tear stained face and said shakily, "Harry… are you ok? I thought… I thought… you were in a coma again!"

Harry smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm ok." Hermione burst into tears, ran to Harry and hugged him, "It's alright…Sh… I'm here, there's nothing to worry about 'Mione…"

The first years and the other students had looks of confusion on their faces and Harry saw this. Turning to Ron, he asked, "Why doesn't anybody know about this?"

Ron shook his head and replied, "Nope. Fudge didn't want the wizarding world to know that their 'saviour' fell into a coma so shortly after a long and tiring battle. He wanted you to seem like you could bounce right back from an exhausting battle. The press was going to publish the truth but Fudge intervened."

As soon as Harry heard this, he screwed his face up in anger and said heatedly, "Fudge is always saying things about me that isn't true! I'm so sick and tired of hearing about what he's said about me! MY God! He's worse than that Rita Skeeter!"

The Gryffindors shifted uneasily and Harry sensed their unease and said calmly, "Sorry about that outburst… Erm… So the first years only you don't know what really happened at the last battle…. The rest should know because they participated in it…How about I tell you all what happened before the adults shooed you away before seeing what I had to see?"

His peers nodded to show that they were interested in what he had to say. He found a place to sit down and the rest followed suit. They sat all around him and before he began his tale, he looked at the people sitting before him and took a deep breath.

"_It was the end of the battle, and where most of the students were fighting was with the lower class Death Eaters. Some students were killed unfortunately… But Ron, Draco, Hermione, some seventh and sixth year Slytherins were fighting in the area where Voldemort and his most trusted servants were." _

Harry was dodging spells and he pushed his way to the circle of Death Eaters protecting Voldemort. He saw Bellatrix fighting her nephew and them having a screaming match. "Why the bloody hell are you on Dad's side? Huh? Mum was the one who tried to stop you! She cared about you so much! Now, every time she sees a picture of you two together she breaks down and cries! I HATE YOU AUNT BELLA!"

"Shut up you insolent brat! Your mother never supported our cause!"

Then Harry saw Bellatrix fall to her knees screaming, "No! No! Get out of my head! Ah! I'm so sorry…"

"Aunt Bella!"

"NO! Get away from me! It's a trap! Ghh..." Lucius was stepping on Bellatrix's throat and smiling like a mad man. "Sh… We didn't need to let that little secret out did we Bella?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh… my son didn't know. Shame on me. I wanted to control your mother but your aunt wouldn't let me." Lifting his foot from Bella's throat and hearing her gag and sputter, he smiled and said, "In the future I will get you to serve our side. I have plans for you boy, and you will follow through with those plans."

They fought and Draco sent a spell at his father. It hit him and he screamed in agony. Lucius fled the battle and limped to somewhere safe so he could apparate away. Bella pushed herself off the ground and said before apparating safely away, "I'm going home now. I want to see my sister and my parents. Come back alive for us Draco and don't let down our family."

Draco nodded his head and then he turned to Harry, "Harry, I'll get to help you get past these assholes, and then you can kill the bastard that fucked up the lives of many people."

"_I found my way through the circle of Death Eaters and in the middle of the circle, there I found Voldemort. I heard loud hissing and saw snakes slither away from the area. He taunted me and I got very angry and we fought." _

Harry was walking the field, a couple of kilometres from Tom Riddle's birth place. He saw many dead bodies. There, at the centre of the field, he saw Lord Voldemort. He heard hissing, and then crazed evil laughter, "You will not overthrow my reign boy! I am everlasting darkness…I am un-defeatable, and I shall have a kingdom that triumphs and that rejoices over your death!"

Harry screamed angrily, "You insane bastard! You will never win!"

"Oh but my dear Harry… I already have. Many nameless wizards and witches have died for your cause and for the Light…What have you done Harry? You are supposed to be the saviour of the wizarding world…."

"Shut up! Stop messing with me! You and your bloody Death Eaters killed those people! You messed up more than half the wizarding populations lives! Some children now don't have parents or siblings because of you!"

"Many lives have been lost… All because of you, so why don't you do us all and yourself included a favour… Die already or join my side…. One or the other! Don't you feel guilty and worthless for not having been able to save the people who fought for you and your cause? You are responsible for many people especially your parents! If you had never been born, they would still be alive!"

Harry froze in his place and Voldemort threw a curse at him. Harry screamed in pain and fell to the ground, "Oh my. Harry, how quaint of you to bow before me, the new ruler of the wizarding world. Soon it will be placed in age of darkness incomparable to before. MWAHAHAHA!"

Harry pushed himself off the ground and they began to duel. Spells, curses, hexes and jinxes were flying everywhere and their surroundings were slowly being demolished. The battle raged on and some spells were being nullified because of how their wands shared the same core. Finally at last, they were both exhausted and Harry thought, 'I have enough power for one spell and I have to make this count…'

They both looked each other in the eye and bowed, "Well Harry, it was nice playing hide-and-go-seek with you, but I'm afraid it's time to say goodbye… See you in hell Harry. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the field, Severus was looking for Harry,"Damned boy, thinks he can go off by himself when Voldemort's still at large…"

He stopped in his tracks when he saw a bright green light at the centre, "Oh no… No no no no…. He can't be… The prophecy must be fulfilled, for the Light side.

He ran as fast as he could to the centre because he knew he wouldn't be able to apparate in his current condition, he tried to concentrate on healing himself while running. 'I hope I get there in time…'

"_After fighting, Voldemort died… and the sight of his dead body made me relieved to know that he wouldn't be screwing millions of people over. I felt weak and fell unconscious." _

After the green light faded into the eerie darkness of the field, Harry watched Voldemort fall to his knees then fall forward. He could see the blood pouring out from the Dark Lord's body and the sight didn't disgust him. In fact, it made him relieved to know that there would be no more threats of evil. "Fuck you Voldemort, you've made my life hell." He spat vehemently.

Harry was feeling very weak and decided to sit down on the ground. His robe was torn, hair dishevelled, and a few cuts, wounds and bruises. He found that it was a bit difficult to move and his vision was becoming hazy. He was also feeling very tired, so he closed his eyes and opened them once again. Harry was trying to stay awake to see if there was anyone that was heading in his direction. He muttered the lumos spell before falling unconscious.

As Severus walked into the area, he could smell the sharp scent of blood. He followed the scent and found the still body of the Dark Lord with blood pooling around him. He looked around and saw Harry lying unconscious on the ground, and a bit bloody. 'Bloody hell…the boy need medical attention' He levitated Harry instead of picking him off the ground because he was afraid of hurting him anymore than he was already. He took the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts and rushed to the infirmary. Poppy looked from a student she was attending to see that the Boy Who Lived was unconscious.

Mme Pomfrey called for the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress, while Severus called for a medi-witch or wizard that could come to help in their situation. A few minutes later a medi-witch and a trainee came from St. Mungo's and set to work on healing Harry.

"He's losing quite a bit of blood. Anymore and he could fall into a coma…" The trainee was quickly jotting down notes on Harry's condition. Ron and Hermione entered the infirmary, a little battered and bruised, demanding to see their friend. "NO! You may not! He is currently in an unstable condition and having you barge in here may upset his condition. You will be allowed to visit him in the morning. GET OUT!" Poppy shooed them out of the infirmary and resumed helping the medical personnel.

After the medical personnel did their work, Poppy attended to some last duties that required her attention. "Severus, will you be staying here to watch over Harry?"

Severus nodded slowly and then resumed watching the young adult. He looked at how pale Harry's skin was and how it contrasted with the blood on the bandages on him. Every once in a while, Harry would open his eyes and Severus would see the brilliant emerald eyes. He was taken aback by how bright Harry's eyes actually were. Severus was thinking about how the war ended and how everyone whose lives that had been affected by the tyranny of the Dark Lord. How it had changed for himself. For Harry. 'All these years, he's had to face many challenges and difficulties. He's much braver than I give him credit for.'

He looked at Harry's face and saw how Harry's hair was framing his face and thought about how the he had changed over the years, 'From a boy who didn't know a thing about the world that he was born into, to one who has learned much… In a way I'm proud of him.' He mentally awarded Gryffindor 5 points, and he knew that Minerva would rub it in his face, but right now, he didn't care He watched Harry a little longer and fell asleep in his chair.

That morning, Severus woke up to find himself in the infirmary and he remembered that he had stayed in there watching over Harry. Poppy walked from her private quarters and saw Severus fixing himself up. "I asked one of the house elves to get some of your clothes, one of your cloaks and some food for you. Here, you can change in my room."

Severus changed into his regular black clothes and robe and ate his breakfast near Harry. 'Wake up Harry… There are many people that are counting on you to wake up.' He prayed silently. He heard the door to the infirmary open and looked up and saw Hermione and Ron. "Good morning sir."

"Good morning Miss Granger, and Mr. Weasely. You want to see Harry right?" The two nodded and saw Snape reach for Harry's charts near his bed. They watched him attentively and saw how his expression changed slowly. "Get me the Headmaster. It's very urgent.'

Hermione and Ron both exchanged worried glances and did as they were told without hesitation. Before they left, they took one last look at Severus and saw him rise form his chair and begin to pace around. They ran to the stone gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office and said the password (Saviour of the Wizards) the gargoyle hopped aside and they rushed into the office and only saw Fawkes. "Fawkes! Do you know where the Headmaster is?"

Fawkes cocked his head to one side and stretched his wings. He flew to the bust on top of the entrance and motioned towards the door. They didn't understand what he was trying to tell them and tried to run out but instead, they bumped into Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall and fell down.

"Please do watch where you are going, Mr. Weasely and Miss Granger."

"Sir! Professor McGonagall! Professor Snape needs you in the infirmary!"

"Please, there is no need to shout. Go tell Severus that we are on our way."

They all headed back to the infirmary and saw Severus still pacing around anxiously. He had a tight grip on Harry's charts and stopped when he heard Dumbledore say, "Severus, my boy… Is Harry alright?"

"No. I'm afraid that he's fallen into a coma."

"WHAT? He was just fine yesterday!" Ron yelled in surprise

"Yes, but during the night, it appears that he had lost more blood. I gave him some potions to stabilize his condition and I cast some spells on him too." Severus answered.

Ron was unsure of Severus' skills in the medical field and said a little rudely, "Are you sure you're qualified to do that?"

Hermione reprimanded her boyfriend's manners by saying, "Ron! If you are going to ask a question, at least be polite when asking it!"

"Hermione is right Mr. Weasely. I am qualified to use medi-magic and the like. All teaching personnel are required to know a basic degree it."

Dumbledore and Minerva examined Harry's charts and said, "We have to announce this to the school at lunch and then the public."

They left including Severus and waited to announce the news of Harry's state. They were all distracted in their own ways until lunch. When it came time for them to go down to the Great Hall, the saw Fudge sitting at the professors' table. "Hello. I came to check up on Harry and found out that he's in a coma. I've already told the press that he wanted to go live in the muggle world for a while, that way they don't come searching here for him. I don't want to cause a panic amongst the people you know."

They all rolled their eyes at the stupidity of the Minister. The professors sat at their table listening to the nonsensical plans of the minister if he was to be elected for the 16th year in a row. Half of the professors sat there praying silently for some one to kill them or Fudge to end their misery. The students sat at their tables feeling sorry for the teachers or were trying to restrain themselves from trying to hex Fudge. "Poor people, I wonder how they can stand him and it all?"

Hermione whispered anxiously, "Ron, would you please watch it? Although I have the same opinion with more than half the students here, I still say that you should practice timing what you say in public… If some one that supports Fudge –I have no idea who would-, you'll never hear the end of it from Percy or your Dad. Or worse even your mum!"

Ron looked at Hermione and opened and closed his mouth a few times, and then he fell silent. "That's more like it darling."

After Fudge left, everyone returned to their regular routines and after classes, Severus returned to the infirmary to check up on Harry. This became a habit that had grown on Severus and at one time Minerva and Albus hugged each other and watched as Severus cared for Harry. Any one that visited Harry prayed that he would hopefully wake up. A few weeks later, Harry woke up and everyone told him what happened to him.

When Harry finished recounting the events of the last battle and the aftermath the Gryffindors all burst out exclaiming things that showed how shocked and mad they were. "Fudge is a bloody spaz!" Seamus exclaimed.

Everyone clamoured in agreement and after everyone calmed down; Dean looked at his watch and said, "It's almost supper. We'd better get going otherwise McGonagall will take points from us."

They made their way to the Great Hall and saw the other houses and professors seated. The golden trio noticed the Headmaster looking at them with the famous twinkle in his eyes. They then glanced at the hourglass that held the rubies for their house points and saw that it had filled up some more by 20. The Gryffindors headed to their table and sat down.

Severus looked at Harry and saw that some of the usual fire in his eyes had returned and Severus felt a little relieved to see the boy back to his usual self. Everyone looked at the sky to see owls dropping letters. Severus saw a black owl fly by him. "Hello Nyghtwing. Do you have a letter for me?"

Everyone at the table looked at Severus and saw the black owl. They smiled and continued eating as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, all the students were staring at Snape with the black owl. "Psst… Harry! Did you ever see that owl before" Ron whispered with his eyes still glued to Snape and the mysterious owl.

"No. It looks like some of the Slytherins have seen it before though."

Severus saw that the students were watching him in utter fascination and mentally sighed. "Hoo. Hoo." Nyghtwing gently nipped him and dropped the letter. Severus opened it and read.

'_Hey Sev,_

_How are you? How are the rest of the old gang? I'm sorry I haven't written to you in… what? Three months? The reason I didn't write was because I'm in a really bad financial situation here… I can't access my Gringotts bank account from here. I'm using my last couple of thousand dollars to come back to Britain and crash at Hogwarts. I need to get a job so I can get some muggle money before that though. The muggles here won't hire me because of the fact I only have my magical stuff on me. They think I'm some wacko. Why? _

_I dropped my book that I'm writing for the wizarding community about the Muggle world while I was working. Once a klutz, always a klutz eh Sev? My colleague from my job at the Toronto Sun told my boss that I needed a shrink. I was so close to using a Memory Charm, but I couldn't, where I work, it's all hustle and bustle; people need you every 5 minutes. _

_The next few days, I get letters from my superiors saying I need to for 'psychological tests'. I quit my job in hopes of getting another one… Well, it seems that my old employers had the nerve of contacting my previous ones. Then you know what? I land a job interview and when the employer contacted the previous one… and the next thing I know, I can't land a job._

_I hope all that rambling didn't confuse you…..'_

Severus paused from reading his letter and realised that he had a small smile on his face and that the students looked at him as if he sprouted another head. "Well Nyghtwing, it looks as if I have to read Mathiylch's letter later. Come, I have something for you to eat. May I please be excused?"

Albus looked up from his seat and replied, "Yes Severus. Please tell Mathiylch that we all saw hello."

He gave a small smile and said, "I will"

Harry noticed that only the first and second years Slytherins were interested in the idea of Severus receiving a letter. He looked at Draco who motioned to the other Slytherins that it was time to go to get their books and go to class, "What class do we have to go to now Hermione?"

"We've got Defence against the Dark Arts."

They went to their Defence against the Dark Arts class and sat in their assigned seats. They opened their text books and sat quietly because the last time they wandered around the classroom, Snape took 10 points off. Snape entered the classroom and said, "Put away your text books, because we're reviewing the Unforgivables. I understand that you all learned about it in your fourth year. Who can tell me about them… other than Miss. Granger? Hmm… Seamus Finn, stop poking that spider on your desk and tell me about them!"

Seamus looked up from his desk and gulped loudly. The 7th year Gryffindors stared at him hoping that he could come up with something so that they wouldn't have more points taken off of them. "Er… There are three unforgivables. If you use them against another being, you can be tried for casting them and if found guilty, you can be sent to Azkaban."

"Very good Seamus, but what are they called?"

"One of them is Crucio."

"Explain what it is and the effects it has on a person."

"It is a torture curse and can render someone injured, and wounded."

"Neville!" Severus barked,"Tell me, are there any other effects that the Crucio curse has?"

In a tiny voice, he said, "Yes, there is, if the curse is cast enough times, it can leave someone mentally unstable. The pain is very intolerable."

"I want those of you who have experienced the unforgivables to come up to the front after we review what they are. And what I mean by those who experienced them I want those who experienced them last year in the war. All of you experienced the Imperious curse and that's not what I'm looking for. The professor you had in your fourth year held back when casting those curses. If it was last year, or a previous year, then you must have experienced people casting it without restraint. Now any other volunteers to tell me the other two?" Snape said.

Ron raised his hand because Hermione wrote down what she wanted to say, and she kept on poking him to do it, "Mr Weasely, yes what curse would you like to explain to the class?"

"The curse I'd like to explain is the Imperius curse. It is the mind controlling curse. The caster has complete control over you and if you have a weak will you will not be able to break the restraint the curse has on you. But if you have a strong will, you might be able to break free from it."

"That's very detailed Mr. Weasely. But I'm pretty sure your girlfriend wrote that for you because I absolutely refuse to have her explain every single curse. I want you students to learn something by me having you explain thing to your peers." The students laughed at Ron because for a moment they thought that he had actually come up with the explanation. "Totally whipped I say." Dean laughed.

"What is the final curse? Potter! Explain now!"

"The final curse is the deadliest curse sir, it is the Avada Kedavra. It kills the victim instantly, and the last thing you see before you die is a brilliant flash of green light. The death is a quick and painless one… You can't block it. What you hear is some thing rushing at you, and the only known survivor is me. And yeah, Fawkes swallowed the spell once." Harry replied

"Well explained and you know that part about Fawkes was really unnecessary. Now those of you who have had these curses cast on you come up. If you know someone who has had these cast upon them come up as well. I want to you to describe what you felt so that the others have an idea of what they might encounter if in the future there is a threat of evil. Remember, those that serve evil don't hold back if they know that their victims are weaker than themselves."

Some students and Professor Snape himself stood at the front of the class to tell their stories. Harry stood next to Snape and having his peers watch him was making him nervous. It was Neville's turn to recount his experiences with the unforgivables. "Well my first experience was with my parents. They were attacked by Bellatrix Lestrange; she used the Cruciatus curse on them… Now they're in St. Mungo's still… That's what happens when you are exposed to the curse a long period of time. A couple of years ago, I felt a fraction of what my parents felt…"

Neville quietly walked back to his seat and laid his head on the desk and watched the others tell their experiences. Severus began telling the students what he saw and felt as a Death Eater, "You know Neville, it is very hard to tell people about things that are very personal to you but as well it helps others to understand you and where you're coming from. I know you've all heard that as a student here, I had quite and interest in the Dark Arts and I was very skilled in it. It is true but that interest served me to a greater purpose to make sure you brats and your children have a peaceful life. My parents and my little sister were killed by the Dark Lord because he heard about my interests. I was offered the position to be a Death Eater and I refused. He made me watch my family die before my eyes. I had no choice to refuse the next time he offered me because through spies he made sure I didn't do anything stupid. And the rest I'm pretty sure you know because of the interviews."

The students nodded to show that they had read the interviews that Albus had ordered to take place. Albus made sure that the interviews of the members who served the Order of the Phoenix had the exact words they said relayed to the public. Luna's father published these interviews since so many people had already subscribed to the magazine. Harry started to speak, "I've been at the receiving end at all three curses and I have casted two of them. The Cruciatus curse hurts a lot. It's like having somebody take 1000 needles and insert them at the pressure points of your body. You twitch violently at times and all you can do is scream and pray it ends. The Imperio curse controls you and you have no control at all. The only way is to have a strong will to fight it. And the last and final curse is Avada Kedavra. I survived it twice and if your victim is weak enough, you can brutally kill them through that curse. When casting these curses you have to mean it not just cast it for the sake of casting it. Like Moody said, if you –excluding Professor Snape- were to all gang up on a powerful wizard, all you'd give him would be a nose bleed or some thing like that."

Professor Snape stood up from his seat and looked at the time and said, "Before you all go, I want you to go and read ahead into the next chapter in the text book and write your own notes. I will be choosing random students and quizzing you on how well you learned what you read. I expect that you know at least something from your readings."

owls, Ootp meeting, occlumency

They went back to the Gryffindor Tower and put their things away. They headed down to the Great Hall for dinner and sat down in their seats. The food arrived from the kitchen and the students and professors began to eat. Minerva leaned over to Albus and said, "Albus have you sent the letters yet?"

"Yes, I have. After dinner everyone will receive them. Severus, I am assuming that you didn't forget about the occlumency lessons that you will be having later on tonight." Albus replied.

"No, I haven't forgotten Albus. By the way, I was thinking about it, shouldn't the some other students be receiving training in this area as well?" Severus said

"I'm pretty sure that some of the students you are referring to have already received training, but the others will not need it."

After they finished their meals, there were owls flying in to the Great Hall and were delivering letters. Severus, Minerva, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, and the other members of the order received the letter about the meeting. After they read the letter, they all retired to their sleeping quarters. Severus was in his office continuing to read Mathilych's letter.

'_So, I'm planning to come back to Britain and get a job at Hogwarts. I kinda miss being there; after all, I did spend a little more than seven years of my life there. I might apply for the position of teaching that Muggle course. I realized that what I learned in that course was completely useless. I kinda miss having people like family around also. You know how I'm an orphan, how I never knew my parents and all that stuff._

_Yeah, before I moved to where I am now, I travelled around a bit. I saw Asia. It's really beautiful there. I should take you there some time with your kids and hubby too if you have one Severus. Did I tell you I studied at a muggle university for a while too? _

_Although I was in the muggle world for over 5 years, it still fascinates me because around the world, they have different cultures and there are different beliefs. Some even belief in magic! Well, I have nothing else to say, but that I'll be seeing you soon Sev. _

_Lots of love from,_

_Mathiylch '_

Severus smiled as he finished reading the letter and when he looked up he found Harry waiting at the door with his pensieve and his book. "Hello Potter. I see you haven't forgotten about the occlumency lesson. Today, we'll be learning how to store our memories in there."

He pointed his wand to his temple and concentrated on transferring his memories to the pensieve. "The key thing to remember is to concentrate on transferring your memories as not to accidentally cast a spell on yourself. Now you try."

Harry transferred his memories to the pensieve and the next thing he knew was Severus chanting, "Legilimens!" Harry could see flashes of his memories fly before him but when he saw the memory about when he got his acceptance letter, he silently pleaded, 'Anything else but this one! I'm begging you God!'

The flashes stopped at this particular memory and Severus looked at Harry and saw him fidgeting nervously. There he saw Harry and his relatives sitting in the living room and Vernon was pacing around in deep thought. He stopped and said, "Petunia, you know what this means. The freakishness passed onto their son. What should we do?"

Petunia shrugged and replied to her husband, "What would you do Vernon if you found out if Dudley had that… that abnormality, because honestly, I don't know. I know I said I'd keep him because my parents found out, but you know, maybe if we just keep in him in his closet some more?"

"We could always try beating it out of him."

"Vernon, that's a far out idea… But it could work. Harry! Go cook us some lunch!"

"Dad, can we kick Harry out? PLEASE?"

"No Duddy-kins. No. Not unless I find some way that won't get me into trouble with my parents and the law. My parents are still grieving over the loss of my dratted sister anyways…" sighing and whispering quietly to herself, "I still wish they had paid more attention to me though."

Harry peeked through the door of the kitchen to see if they were still talking over possibilities of what to do with him. "I wonder why they're so worried about what they're gonna do with me… It's not as if they cared about me in the first place. It's always, 'Duddy-kins this, Duddy-kins that!' My god, I wouldn't be surprised if he got expelled from school or something like that. Aunt Petunia is always sticking up for him even though she knows he did something wrong. 'Oh no, _my baby Duddy-kins wouldn't even hurt a fly!'_ That stupid whale of a cousin _always always _gets what _he_ wants!" Harry muttered to himself angrily.

Severus looked at Harry again and saw Harry looking at his feet and not looking up, "After this is done you're going to have some explaining to do…"

"What the hell are you doing? Get back to cooking you stupid brat!" Petunia slapped Harry hard on the cheek and afterwards there was a big red mark on his cheek. Harry saw Dudley getting some food out of the fridge and he was smirking and laughing at him. Harry felt tears starting to form and rubbed his eyes frantically so that his cousin wouldn't laugh at him more or Vernon or Petunia wouldn't yell at him and throw him his cupboard.

The memory ended and Severus said, "As I said many times before, clear your mind and let go of all emotions. What was that I just saw?"

"Well, my relatives really don't like magic and they try beating it out of me. I think my aunt knows it doesn't work but she still does it anyway because they tried to use other methods to try to get it out of me."

"Potter, magic doesn't come out of you. The only way magic comes out of you is by a side effect of a spell or potion and if you die. Magic goes on in a circle. What methods did they try to stamp the magic out of you?"

"They tried scaring me, hitting me, giving me little food and water, working me until I was exhausted, they even made me live in the back yard. They didn't work so they just let me go here and just decided that beating me and not letting me do any magic. Luckily, I hid my wand."

"Is that all they did?"

"Yes sir."

"What about that cupboard? Are you still using that?"

"No, after my second year, they decided to give me my cousin's second room. It's full of rubbish that my aunt Petunia keeps as little memoirs of my cousin Dudley."

"Petunia, where have I heard that name before? Yes, Mathyilch and Lily."

"Who is Mathilych and how does this person know my mum?"

"Potter, Mathilych was my sister's best friend. She was a couple of years younger than us. She was in Slytherin just like my sister and I. She used to tag around with us and say all these things. She was another sister to me. She was friends with a lot of people from different houses. I remember when we were in our sixth or seventh year, your mutt of a godfather tried asking her out, she flat out refused him in front of the whole school. Your mother was also friends with my sister, because of her."

"Oh. How come you heard of my aunt?"

"Mathilych went over to your mother's house for one summer and sent me owls telling me about how uptight your aunt was."

"Is Matheyilch…er Mathilych her real name? I'm getting this feeling that it's not."

"No it isn't. She doesn't mind being called by her real name, but she just prefers this because it makes her laugh when people can't pronounce it right. Anyways, Potter if you have anymore questions about her, you can ask her when she comes here. Come, we must go to the meeting now, and remember Potter; this is still practice and review. You may have mastered occlumeny and legilimency, but you still have some things to go over before this is all finished. Now let's go and not waste time." Before going, Harry went back to the Gryffindor Tower to put his things away and met up with Severus to leave for the meeting.

They took the floo to 12 Grimmauld place and found the Order of the Phoenix in the kitchen with Molly preparing assortments of drinks and snacks. "Well it seems the last of the Order has come in. Would you like something to drink or eat?"

"No thank you Molly." The two declined politely.

Dumbledore began the meeting by saying,"It is a shame that we do not have the members we had before but, I have been feeling uneasy about this peace that we have now. Draco has something he would like to show us all." Dumbledore motioned to Draco and he rolled up the sleeve to his left arm. There was a collective gasp around the room and their eyes lingered on it before turning to Severus.

"Professor Snape, do you still have your Dark Mark?" Draco asked. Unsure why he would ask that Severus rolled up his left sleeve to and said, "It's gone but not quite. You can still see the outline of it."

"This is the new Dark Mark. There was an Azkaban breakout that Fudge kept hush-hush and pretty soon that decision's going to bite him hard in the arse. I mean really really hard. If the public ever got wind of this, there'd probably be a riot."

"Who is the new Dark Lord Draco?" Hermione asked.

"Who else would it be? It's my father." He said bitterly.

They talked about how they would try and break down Lucius' power and how they would try and warn the public about a new growing opposition to the light side. After the meeting, they all went back to Hogwarts and went to their living quarters and slept. Before Harry could fall asleep he thought about how busy he would be the next day because of the Dumbledore's Army meeting he would have. Severus couldn't sleep because his friend was coming to England to stay a while and he had not seen her since Lily and James' funeral.

Meanwhile in Canada, there was an Asian woman with a British accent getting onto a plan headed towards Britain. She sat in her seat and watched the movies playing. She sighed and flipped through the channels and got bored because she had seen most of them. She decided to listen to music instead. She looked at her watch and she began thinking to herself, 'How long has it been since I was last at Hogwarts? The last time I was there my little godsons were still babies. A woman with a bar cart and the snacks stopped by and asked her what she would like to drink and she said, "I'd like to have some scotch on rocks please. Oh, and can I have three of those pretzel packs, not just one?"

The flight attendant handed her three pretzel packs and her scotch on rocks. She flipped through the channels while eating and drinking but soon afterwards she fell asleep. When she woke up the plane was in the process of landing and she straightened herself up and fixed herself and put everything she needed in her carryon. When the plane stopped at Heathrow, she decided to a little shopping first before going to Hogwarts.

After buying the things she wanted she called a taxi and said she wanted to go to the nearest park. There, she found a secluded place and apparated to Hogsmeade. She talked to the local innkeeper and found a room. Once she organised her room to her liking, she decided to go to Hogwarts and visit the old gang. She entered the castle and entered the Great Hall and everyone stopped in the middle of morning announcements to stare at her.

Severus: Interesting plot twist. And I'm definitely out of character. WHAT'S

WRONG WITH YOU? I like being snarky!

Baka Otaku: No use complaining about it. I'm just borrowing you and

bending you to my will. You remind me of House by the

way.

Severus: Who the hell is House?

Psychotic Otaku: Another fictional character who's snarky and is a muggle.

He's a brilliant doctor though.

Harry: Who the hell is that character?

Psychotic Otaku: Relax would you? It'll be explained in the next chapter. If I

explained it now it would ruin the story a bit!


	8. Who Are You?

**Chapter 7- Who are You?**

**Author's Note: **OK, for all of who read the Half Blood Prince already, I'm not changing the time line and stuff like that, I'm too lazy to. (Sorry. . ) Some things learned in that book will be incorporated into the story though. I already have a time line in my mind anyways. Oh, and in advance, I'm really sorry for the bad quality of this chapter.

**Warnings**: A very OOC Snape. Alternate Universe. Problem child memories (like those kids who get drunk and come to school the next day with a hang over.)

Dumbledore paused from the morning announcements and smiled. "Hello Mathilych. Please sit down where ever you wish."

The students stared at her while she chose her seat at the Slytherin table. She scanned the professors table for Severus and gave him a small wave. The students were still staring at her. "Today is the meeting for DA students and for those of you in Gryffindor don't forget that tomorrow is the quidditch tryouts."

The students began eating and when they finished, they went off to do homework or to get ready for the meeting. Mathilych stood up and walked over to the professor's table and said. "Hello. How have you all been?"

"We've been doing great Mathilych. How have you been faring for the last few years? And what brings you here?" Minerva said.

"I'm doing well. I'm here because I'm kind of on the brink of being bankrupt."

As soon as everyone heard this, they groaned loudly and Severus put his head in his hands. "Geez, Mathilych. I mean, every time you tried to save up you couldn't help but spend it all in one day. You're lucky you still have some of your real parents' savings in that account Albus and Minerva wouldn't let you near. Why are you dressed like that? Your eyes weren't grey and what happened to your glasses?"

"I'll explain it to you after I ask the Headmaster for some money. Can I have a job teaching here or something like that Albus? Or can you at least give me some money? Can I crash here?"

Everyone laughed and the Headmaster said, "I'll see what I can do. But first where are you staying?"

"I'm staying at the inn at Hogsmeade. Why?"

"Dobby!" Albus called out. A loud pop was heard and there was Dobby saying, "Yes sir? What can Dobby get for youse?"

"Can you please go to Hogsmeade and got to…Which room number?"

"27."

"Dobby will get things for Mathilych."

"Where would you like to stay?"

"Can I stay in those spare rooms I stayed in when you found me at Diagon Alley?"

Dumbledore said, "Well, I have to be going now. I have to attend to things. So have fun catching up you two."

"Yes sir." Mathilych said. Turning to Severus, she said, "It's good to be back in the wizarding world. It's so different than the Muggle world."

"You still owe me my explanation."

"Alright. After Hogwarts I decided to study theatrics and music at a muggle university. There I did a lot of things. I had lots of fun there, except those times I got into trouble."

"What about your eyes? What happened to your glasses?"

"I still have them, but I have contact lenses. They offer them in different colours and just regular lenses."

"What about the way you dress?"

"Oh, I did tell you in that letter that I did travel around a bit did I?"

"Yes."

"It's the clothes that I got from around the world."

"Severus, I'm going to check out my room."

"Let me come with you, it's been a while since we hung out."

Mathilych and Severus went to her room and they arranged her things. She gave Severus a book about how to swear in different languages and gave him a package of gummy worms. He opened the pack and tried one and declared that he liked it. Mathilych smiled goofily and she decided that they should go to Severus' office to kill time by marking the Defence against the Dark Arts assignments. After they finished marking the assignments, Mathilych complained about being bored and said that she wanted to walk around the grounds. "This place hasn't changed really has it Severus?"

"No it hasn't."

The students were busy with their homework and doing other things. Some of them stopped to say 'Hello' to her and to make her feel welcome. She made her way to the Room of Requirement and Harry had to stop in the middle of reviewing how to cast the Patronus charm because he didn't expect Severus to be there also. "Oh, I'm sorry. You can continue what you were doing."

With one last glance, Severus and Mathilych left the room and Harry continued on teaching and reviewing spells with the members of the group. He told them pointers about how to cast the spells. "Hey, Harry doesn't Professor Snape seem a fraction more relaxed now that lady's here?" Hermione asked at the end of the meeting

"Yeah, which reminds me, I have an Occlumency lesson tonight." He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost time to stop the meeting of the DA. "Alright people, it's time to go."

They filed out of the room and the golden trio saw Severus smiling and eating his gummy worms with Mathilych. She was laughing and saying, "Remember that time Lucius tried asking me out? God, Narcissa was so mad!"

The Gryffindor trio hid themselves because Ron walked into the other direction as soon as he saw Severus. They stood there in their place, just watching them reminisce.

"Well at least it wasn't when Sirius tried asking you out… That girl… I forget what her name was… She jinxed him and broke his arm."

"I know… Poor Sirius… How is he doing?"

"Mathilych, I kind of didn't want to tell you this considering how much you've gone through in your life but, Sirius is dead…"

"WHAT? You… You didn't tell me? Oh my god… I lost another important friend… First Lily and James, then Narcissa and Bella… Then Sirius… Your sister… I don't want to lose anymore people. I don't want to feel like I'm alone again. "

The golden trio looked at each other surprised and Harry said monotonously, "She knew my parents? And she knew Sirius?"

"Harry, she knew every one, well that's what your sister says Ron. She seems like she didn't care about the 'rivalry' of Gryffindor and Slytherin. What house was she in? I'd like to know." Hermione said

"She sounds like my sister. Pretty, popular, guys asking her out, how did some one like her be friends with Snape?" Ron whined loudly, "She mentioned that Snape had a sister… I thought he was an only child. I heard that he had an estate up north… And the estate was only passed onto him; there was nothing of siblings in the will. And they're sitting in the way that we take to visit Hagrid!"

Mathilych moved to sit next to Severus and started to cry. "Maybe we shouldn't go this way…"

"There, there, it's all right." Severus said soothingly. He was running his fingers through her hair and he began humming a quiet tune

"No it isn't!" She moaned, "I'm going to be all alone again! I don't want to be all alone!"

"You're not alone, you have me, one of your best friends, and you have the people who were like parents to you, even though you never met your own. You're going to have the students, who are going to be like little brothers and sisters to you."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm over reacting. There's no Dark Lord around to who's going to kill people I love. Not anymore he's going to do things to the people I love." Mathilych started hiccupping and soon she fell asleep. Severus leaned and kissed her forehead and said, "I know you miss my sister, I do too. Every time someone close to you dies, a part of you dies; I don't want to see you like this Mathilych."

He picked her up and headed in the direction of the Slytherin dormitory and found the trio trying to act busy. "Yeah… We should try doing that next time…" He glared at them and said curtly, "Harry you do remember that you have a lesson after dinner with me right? And oh, all of you have detention with me after Harry's lesson. "

"Sorry sir… I have to help my sister with her homework, and it's really important!"

"I have to help Professor McGonagall with something!"

"I didn't do anything, I was just going over the plans for the next DA meeting with them so we can post it as soon as possible."

"You all are terrible liars. Learn to lie first before reasoning with me. Do you want me to add to this and make it a week?"

"No sir."

"5 points for lying to a teacher. Oh, and 10 points off for listening in on a private conversation between two teachers. You know what? I suggest you accompany Potter to his lesson tonight because I don't want to wait for some snivelling snot nosed brats who can't lie properly." Severus said. He continued to make his way to Mathiylch's room and once he was there, he laid her on her bed and left the room. But before he did, he said, "Remember, you're like family to me. Never ever forget that you're not alone"

Meanwhile the Gryffindor trio was making their way to Hagrid's hut and they were talking about how Snape had acted so out of character, well at least to them. When they reached Hagrid's hut they saw him walking from the forest with a bunch of flowers and a unicorn was following him. "Oi! Hello Hagrid who is that for?"

"Oh, it's for Mathilych. She used to help out when ever she got into detention. She's such a kind girl. I'm going to see her. Professor Snape owled me about what happened. I'm kinda disappointed in yeh. Would you like to come with me? I'm pretty sure she wouldn't mind having extra guests to visit her."

"Sure. Do you know what she's teaching?" Hermione asked

"Yeah. She's teaching Muggle Studies. She kind of blew up yesterday at her welcome back party when she saw a wizard dressed up like a Muggle. Says the muggle would be spotted quickly and if it was a kid, that kid woulda bin made fun of. She made a point though."

"Why is there a unicorn?" Ron asked

"Oh. This unicorn is the one she found and nursed back to health, it found its way near the Herbology greenhouses in her first year. Like I said, very nice but she sometimes gets in trouble for doing a lot of things. I'm pretty sure you'll hear about it soon."

In a matter of time, it was not long before Hagrid and the trio entered the room of Mathilych. She got up from her work and greeted them. "What brings you here Hagrid?

"I'm here just to say hi. Yeh know catch up and things like that." Hagrid moved aside to show that the golden trio was also with him, "They wanted to meet yeh."

"Oh that's so sweet. What are your names?'

"Harry Potter."

"Hermione Granger."

"Ron Weasley."

"I've heard about you all. I know your older brothers Ron. And Harry, I knew your parents." She flashed a goofy grin," Oh my! Where are my manners? Please make yourselves comfortable. Please let me get some tea for you."

She laid out a tray with an assortment of tea bags and hot water and snacks. "So Hagrid, how have things been since I was gone?"

"The creatures of the forest are doing fine. That centaur you befriended is now the head of the clan. And that unicorn you nursed back to health, it's been coming by lately. Maybe later on today yeh can come by and say hello. I'd like to hear about your travels and what yeh've been up to."

"I will. Well, I went to Japan and China, very pretty places. Went to the States for a while, and finally stayed at Canada. I got a few jobs acting, singing, modeling and the like. I broke my arm a while back; I was carrying a whole bunch of papers and tripped on the stairs. I went to a muggle university and managed to scrape a degree in Psychology."

"Wow. You sound like you've done a lot of things." Hermione said awe-struck

Mathilych said, "So Hermione, I hear that you've been the top student in your year six years consecutively. Bravo! I was pretty good too but I was a bit of a trouble maker."

"Really?"

"I was just like your twin brothers Ron. I made trouble, but much more serious. I got arrested once…or twice… I remember how mad Minerva was."

"WHAT? Hagrid that's not true? Is it? You don't seem like the type to get arrested…"

"Oh yeah, it's true. I remember when Dumbledore had to pick her up and McGonagall was staying at the castle trying not to jinx anybody."

"How about I tell you of one time I got arrested?"

"Erm… Which time are you thinking about Mathilych…." Hagrid asked worriedly

"Oh, you'll know which one." She smiled devilishly.

"_When I was 16, I was in a rebellious stage. I would go out drinking with a bunch of my muggle friends throughout the year. I'd smoke too"_

It was a Friday night at Hogwarts, and it was a Hogsmeade weekend. Mathilych was planning to go off to the nearest muggle settlement to meet some of her muggle friends to hang out. She sneaked off to the border of Hogsmeade and magically unshrank the car she kept hidden from the teachers and other students. She drove off to Aberdeen city. There she parked her car at her friend Diana's house. She greeted her friends and entered the house and caught up with her friends.

"Well, now that's out of the way, what do you want to do?" Mathilych said to her friends, Diana, Sara, and Jessi.

"It's Friday right? Let's go out to the mall! Then maybe after we can get a movie and hang out." Diana said.

They went off to the mall and flirted with guys. While they were waiting for Sara's boyfriend to pick them up, they started to smoke. "So when are you going back to your school?" Jessi asked.

"I'm going back on Sunday, I don't know when, but that day. Besides, it's been too long since I came here." Mathilych replied

Soon they heard a car horn and there was a teenager yelling, "OI! SARA! LET'S GO! ALICE SAYS SHE CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!"

"Who the hell is Alice?" Mathiylch asked

"Alice is my cousin. She's staying with my family, but she tags around Daniel. I know for sure that she thinks that he's hot. I don't care because we've agreed to see other people. We know we're gonna break up sooner or later."

"Wow. I've missed a lot since I was last here…"

"Yeah, where did you go that night you had to leave early? You know, last time you came here?"

Mathilych was thrown off by that question and said quickly, "Oh…One of the teachers said if I broke curfew early, I'd have detention for the month. And I won't have any privileges to go out for the next couple of outings…"

So then, they went to the local movie rental place and rented a movie and got food so that they could eat and drink while watching the movie. After the movie they all went back to their houses and Mathilych spent the night at her friend Diana's house. The next day she and her friends spent it just hanging out drinking and talking. Before she left she was tipsy and decided to apparate to back to Hogsmeade.

Luckily, she apparated to Hogsmeade in one piece and she lit up a cigarette and made her way back to the castle. There she found Professor McGonagall and her head of House waiting there with the Headmaster Dumbledore.

_When McGonagall found out, I thought she'd kill me. I was a troubled kid. I don't know how many times I broke curfew and come back with hangovers spending the class muttering and cursing. But this time I got into a fight with a muggle girl in a club. She said that I was a loser because I had a weird style. I mixed popular wizarding and muggle fashion. I got mad and punched her lights out. Her friends got mad and started calling the cops because a few of them decided to get into a fight with me and my friends too. I remember one of them was saying, 'Please help us! There's this crazy chick that's trying to hurt us!' I got mad and just used magic. I went to the station; Dumbledore bailed me, and used a memory modification charm and nearly got expelled from Hogwarts."_

"Whoa… How can Snape be friends with you? He seems so…. Uptight. No offenses to you or him, but you seem so…. Laidback." Ron said shell-shocked

"I know. I thought so too Ron. But I noticed he's different around those he trusts and has let his guard down with. I'm a few years younger than him and I remind him of his baby sister, you know? He's protective of me, even when I moved away; he made sure that I wasn't doing anything stupid. He even sent a howler to my editor once, and… a few times to me too. I had to obliviate that stupid editor…" Mathiylch replied softly.

"Wow. So who else do you know from your time at Hogwarts?" Harry asked hoping to hear something about his parents or Sirius.

"I knew your parents, Draco Malfoy's parents, and Sirius. I'll never ever forget the day your parents died… Would you like to hear about Sirius, Lily and James?"

"Yeah."

"_Sirius was a goof off. He was funny. But the thing that annoyed me in all my years being at Hogwarts was that he started the whole fiasco of guys asking me out. I swear I was like Akane from Ranma ½ … They were all nice people."_

Mathilych walked into her Charms classroom and sat near the back and scanned the classroom to see if Severus or sister was in the same class as she was. "Great. There are no Slytherins here that I like… And all the other students I don't know that well or don't know at all…" She sighed and sat in a corner. She was early for class and when the bell rang, the other students filed into the classroom. "Hi. I'm Lily. What's your name?"

"Mathilych. What house are you from?"

"Gryffindor. What about you?"

"Slytherin."

The Marauders walked into the classroom and saw that Lily was talking to Mathilych and Sirius said to Lily, "Lily don't talk to her, she's from Slytherin."

"Why?"

"They believe that Muggles shouldn't be attending schools like these. They're mostly purebloods like me or James."

"Hey loser!" Mathilych angrily said, "Does being in Slytherin make me trash in your eyes? I don't believe that crap about pure-blooded stuff. I've learned about it and I don't care about it. Besides does it look like I care? I can see the badge from your House on Lily's robe. I would have told her to bugger off after she said hello to me."

"I don't see your badge on your robe…" Sirius said

"I sewed a black patch over it because I didn't want to get into a troublesome situation like this, if I ever talk to people from other houses. I still wear the tie so teachers can tell which house I'm from. "Mathilych replied rudely. "I get in trouble for it. So what? As long as I can avoid situations like these. So Lily, would you like to sit here?"

"Sure."

The Marauders sat relatively close to them because James didn't know who Mathilych was and once he saw her, he said, "Why don't you trust her? She seems pretty nice; she's not doing anything to Lily. And to add she's cute to boot…"

Sirius was still boiling over the fact that Mathilych was in Slytherin. At the end of class, Mathiylch stood over his desk and said, "I'm sorry for my earlier outburst, but I don't like being put into that stereotype about Slytherin students… I think you should give me a chance. Maybe this weekend we could hang out, your friends can come along too."

"Alright…"

Mathilych hugged him and said, "Thanks!"

That weekend Lily, Mathilych, and the Marauders met in one of the many courtyards of the castle. "So every one is here and accounted for. So what do you guys want to do?" James said

"Well, you guys want to go meet my other friends? I have an idea where they might be."

"Yeah. At least they might have an idea what we can do."

Mathilych lead them to the dungeons but they didn't go in the direction of the Slytherin dorms. When they were in the hallway of Mathyilch's room in the dungeons. Sirius asked, "Your room is outside of the Slytherin dorms? Why?"

"That's a story I'll need to tell you later. I bet my friends are right out side of my room." Soon they saw Severus, Willow, Lucius, Narcissa, Bellatrix and Regulus standing out sided of her door. "What are you doing with _them?_" Bellatrix asked angrily.

"Hey Bella. You know what I said about me being in Slytherin. I don't care for these stupid prejudices. You all get along otherwise you all can get out of this hallway in case some teacher comes down here rampaging about the next set of rules I happened to break." Mathilych retorted irritated

"What are my cousin and brother doing here?" Sirius asked pointing to each person respectively

"I didn't know that Bella was your relative, but still, she's my friend. You keep your mouths shut about that prejudice between Gryffindor and Slytherin students; I don't want to hear about it here in my room. By the way Sirius it's impolite to point, didn't any body teach you that?"

The others let out small giggles and entered the room. Lily was taken aback by the size of Mathilych's living quarters. "Wow, it's bigger than the room that I have to share with the other girls!"

Sirius made a couple of jokes and the Gryffindor and Slytherin rivalry was dropped in the privacy of these people.

A few years later….

"Oi Mathilych! Wanna go out with me?"

"What? I don't even know you! Who told you that I liked you?"

"Erm, Sirius said if we could get a date with you he said we'd be prank free for a month."

"What? What do you mean by prank-free?"

"Him and his friends stay clear of us for a month, no pranks pulled on us."

"Grr… I'll show that moron. I mean what is this? Will he honestly think that I'll go out with him after this?"

_When we were fifteen, James introduced me and all his Gryffindor friends to his parents, they were so shocked. My appearance was what you could call punk-ish_.

"James, are you sure you want to introduce me? I mean look at me, I'm dressed in a mix of muggle and witch clothing and I have two lip piercings."

"Mathilych, please relax. Just be yourself."

"…Are you sure? "

"Yes I am. Mum! Dad! I'm home and I've got some friends for you to meet!"

"Oh that's wonderful!" James mother said, "Oh My! What a… nice looking friend you have there James."

Mathilych pouted and whined "I told you James!"

"Ohhh. Don't feel bad. It's just that James' dad and I will have to get used to him having a friend like you."

"Thanks Mrs. Potter"

_I tried so hard not to laugh when I met Sirius parents… We tried sneaking in, but Bella's family was visiting and well, Bella didn't like Sirius for a couple of reasons, he outright refused to follow that trash about being full blooded. She on the other hand didn't believe it but seeing as how Sirius was about to get the boot sooner or later, she pretended to, but that changed when Lucius joined the clan. I'm going completely off topic, sorry"_

Sirius and Mathilych were sneaking to his room and Mathilych was getting annoyed at the fact that they were going there so secretly

"Sirius… Why the hell are we doing this?"

"We're doing this because I don't want my parents asking me all about the kids who are pure blooded and what they're doing to support _'their'_ cause. Oh bloody hell. Bella is here!"

"So?"

"She'll tell my parents that I have company over and then they'll ask you about the pure blooded stuff. I know how much you hate that."

Sirius saw his mother heading their way and frantically said, "Bloody Hell! Hide!"

"Well, well, Sirius. I thought you were going to stay holed up in your room." Looking to Sirius's right, his mother said, "Who the bloody hell are you?"

"I'm Mathilych. And who the bloody hell are you?"

"I'm Sirius' mother. Are you a full blooded witch young lady?"

"I don't know."

"Wait. How could you not have known if you were?" Hermione interrupted

"I'm an orphan but Dumbledore absolutely refused to tell me what I was. He only told me a few things about myself and my parents."

Hermione looked confused. She couldn't understand why Dumbledore would keep such important information away from Mathilych. "Why?"

"_Until I was 5, I stayed in a muggle orphanage in London. One day, we were going out on an excursion. I got lost, so I decided to walk around to look for the matron. I found an old bookstore that nobody could see. There was a family who was walking into the bookstore and I decided to follow them, just in case they would help me get back to the orphanage. But instead, I ended up going to Diagon Alley. It was the first time I had been to the wizarding world."_

'Hmm. Maybe if I sit there, maybe somebody will take me back to the orphanage' Mathiylch thought. She was interrupted by Florean Fortescue asking her where her parents where. "I don't have them. I'm an orphan. And I'm lost! Can you help me find Matron Daneen?"

Florean laughed and said, "You just stay here lass, I'll go get you something to eat and I'll get you someone who can help you find Matron Daneen."

By the time Mathilych was almost finished eating her ice cream, Abraxas Malfoy found her waiting for someone to come and help her. He looked at her and said, "Are you the child I'm to help?"

"Yeah, I guess. So you're going to help me find Matron Daneen right?"

"Yes. Come with me, I haven't got all day you know."

They used a port key to get to the Malfoy Manor. There she met Lucius, who was a year or two older than she was. He made fun of her and yanked her hair. Lucius' mother scolded him and gave her a small plate of cookies that were meant for him. "What is this girl doing here Abraxas?"

Abraxas said, "I'm supposed to get this girl back into the Muggle world. But what I can't help but wonder is how this girl got here in the first place…"

"Father, is this girl a full blooded witch or is she something else?"

"I don't know Lucius. Damn… My arm, the Dark Lord is summoning me…"

"There's no need for that Abraxas. I'm right here…" A cold voice said from behind the Malfoy family. "Who is this girl?"

Mathilych wanted to run away, but her fear made her immobile. The tall figure standing in front of her was dressed in black and was looking at her with his blood red eyes. "Are you a full blooded witch?"

"I… don't know what you're talking about mister."

"How long have you had this girl in your house, Abraxas?"

"Only today my liege. Supposedly she is from the muggle world. I don't know how she managed to get into Diagon Alley where I found her."

"I see. So, she has no idea of our world. I think this is a very good opportunity, allow me to have the girl, and I will allow you to move up a rank."

"Yes my liege."

"Tell the authority if they ask that she was being a petulant little brat and ran off and now you don't know where she is. You think that she found her way back to the muggle world. You, come with me."

Turning to Mathilych, Abraxas said, "Go with him. He'll help you find Matron Daneen."

"Alright… If you say so." Mathilych replied warily

Voldemort and Mathilych port keyed to the Riddle Manor. There, he said, "Tomorrow, you will learn how to use magic, wouldn't you like that?"

"Magic? That sounds fun, but didn't that man say you'd help me?'

"I will tomorrow."

The next morning, when she woke up she found some new clothes at the end of her bed and some food. She changed her clothes and ate breakfast. She made her way down the stairs and found Voldemort in front of the fireplace waiting for her. Naga slithered near her and hissed. "Naga, it's alright. Come here, tell me young one, what is your name."

"Mathilych."

"I see. Today we'll learn how to cast Cruciatius, or at least see what it does. Now concentrate really hard, and say Crucio. Make a picture of something in this room and aim it but not me."

Mathilych did as she was told and there was a small beam of magic that nearly hit Voldemort. "Did I do it?"

"Yes. But you nearly hit me you stupid child! I distinctly remember saying don't aim at me!"

"I didn't mean to do it on purpose!"

**Smack** Mathilych began crying and then a burst of magic hit everything in the room, including Voldemort. Shaking his head, he said, "You are not going back to your muggle orphanage, not after what power I feel radiating from you. "

_The following year, I was taught Dark Curses and such. I had magical outbursts when I was angry. But in a way, I thank Voldemort for getting me out of there; I was often teased and made fun of because the children were scared of me. I think I came into my powers during that time when all of them began making fun of me. Before I was returned to the Malfoy family, I received the Dark Mark."_

"Wake up you brat! Today is a very important day!"

"Nnn… Wha? What is it?"

"Today, you will get a very special gift, and you won't have to deal with me for a few years."

She got dressed and went outside where she saw all the members of the Death Eaters forming a circle.

"Today, we are getting a new member. She will not be involved in many things that most of you are involved in, but she will be useful for recruiting many to our purpose. She is young, which means her mind will be easily swayed into our ideas. Come here brat. She has learned many spells and now she can cast many of them flawlessly. Give me your left arm."

"Why? Are you going to zap it again?"

"No you stupid child." Voldemort began the ritual of branding his mark onto her arm.

"OW! You liar, you said you weren't going to zap it! It hurts…"

"Just keep your bloody mouth shut and just let me finish brat."

When he was done, Mathilych's arm was still smarting and she now was sporting the Dark mark.

"Wait. Didn't Voldemort give the mark when the child was of age or a little younger than that?" Hermione asked trying to figure out why a Dark Lord would give a 6 year old the Dark Mark.

"Yes he did. But he altered the spell so that the mark grew with me. As I got older the pain became more intense."

"Oh. Why?"

"_He told me once that he could sense great potential in my abilities. If I was taught properly the way to use my magic, I could've become the first Dark Lady in ages. He emphasized to me the proper use of magic according to him._

Mathilych was beginning to grow tired of the exercises that Voldemort was making her do, so she decided to try and float things and see how long she could float them. Meanwhile, Voldemort was busy cackling and going over his plans to take over the world with Naga. "What on earth is that noise?"

Storming into the living room, he found Mathilych with two broken vases at near her and a third floating in midair. "ARGH! You stupid girl! I told you to practice using your magic on the dummy! Reparo! Reparo!"

"Why bother? It's so boring. I want a wand like yours."

"If you get a wand now, people will find out that you can cast spells earlier than children your age. Your power is strong, if you keep it up, you can be as strong as me! Don't you want to be strong and have people do what you want? You could be a Dark Lady, maybe the first one in history. The proper usage of your magic is important, you can defend yourself with it, and you can make people do what you want with it… There are many useful uses for learning to do magic without a wand."

"But it's so boring."

"Go outside and play for half an hour. But I expect no foolishness when you come back. By then, I'll be able to teach you some more magic."

_Anyways, when I returned to the Malfoy family, they were surprised at how much I had grown. The plan was to have me there until I was ready to go to Hogwarts but… unfortunately, I got lost a week later after I went back. They were taking me to Knockturn Alley to get me some things so that I could learn more magic and learn how to read and things like that. I went to Florean's place again and there I met Dumbledore."_

Again, Mathilych found herself sitting at Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop waiting for the Malfoy's to get her. Albus saw her sitting there and asked her, "Where are your parents?"

She answered it as if it was nothing big to her, "They're dead. I don't have parents."

Albus just nodded his head and said that he would take her along to see Diagon Alley and to buy things. Since for the past year she lived at Voldemort's mansion, she didn't trust people she didn't know. She wanted to run or use magic on him, but she remembered how Voldemort would reprimand her, and she thought that was how all adults dealt with misbehaving children. She remembered how Voldemort would yell at her and threaten to cast spells on her. So she decided to go along with him.

"So in a way, he was like an abusive parental figure?" Harry asked.

Mathilych looked a little pensive for a moment and then said, "Yeah. Very rarely he would let me just relax and be a kid. I sort of had to grow up fast to meet his expectations…So the Dark Mark grew with me because of his plan to use me to try to get others to join his cause, he insisted on the fact that the earlier I did that, the more followers. I thought it would never work and often wondered why the other kids couldn't do it, but then I learned that those kids had parents who were linked to Death Eater activities and they didn't want the truth to be confirmed by their children getting others to join their cause. And that's also why Dumbledore never told me whether I was full blooded or not, he thought I did really believe in that hate muggles stuff, even though I outright refused to and did stuff showing that."

Hermione looked at the clock on Mathilych's desk and said, "Oh, it's almost time for dinner; we'll see you both at the Great Hall."

"Well Hagrid, let's go to the Great Hall, I'm hungry…"

They went to the Great Hall and Mathilych found that she had a spot next to Severus, "Hey Sev."

"I see now you're feeling better. I'm glad. I'm going to be busy after dinner. I have a lesson with Potter and detention with his friends including himself."

"That's okay. I'd like to see you teach and maybe I could help you."

"I'm pretty sure you can. After all, it was You-Know-Who that taught you most of the things you know. "

After dinner, the golden trio went to their dorm rooms to wait for Harry to get his things and then they made their way down to go to Professor Snape's office. Mathilych saw that Severus was teaching Occlumency and decided to get her pensieve too. The trio entered Snape's office and found Mathilych there also. "Oh hi you guys! Severus said I could help out teaching Harry. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah." They all said.

"So Harry, the last time you were here, you were learning how to put your memories into your pensieve. You will learn how to deal with two people trying to use occulumency on you one after another. Remember clear your mind of emotions." Snape said.

"That's right Harry. It's very important that you do clear yourself of emotions; otherwise your attacker can find a weakness in the memories that you show them. Those emotions are linked to different emotions you have. But if your attacker didn't clear themselves of emotions, you can find a weakness in the memories that they show you." Mathilych added.

"Occulmens!" Severus said.

Harry managed to successfully fend off Severus but when Mathilych tried it, he felt he couldn't stand an invasion to his memories one after another and then let down his defences because the effort was taking its toll on him. He accidentally sent a spell at her and managed to see a glimpse of her holding a baby and hearing the words, "Well, Kaori, now you have two godsons. Are you going to spoil them?"

After that, Severus was standing over Harry and said, "Why did you do that? I thought you were past that stage!"

"Was it tiring?" Mathilych asked. "That memory brings a lot of regret back to me. I regret not doing some things when I had the chance."

"Which one Mathilych?" Severus asked

"The one with my godsons, right before… James and Lily…" Mathilych replied

They tried a couple more times until Harry managed to successfully protect himself from a continuous mental invasion from two different people. "Hmm… I might as well start detention now." Severus said after he looked at the grandfather clock in his office

"What did they do?" Mathilych asked

"They were listening in on that conversation we had earlier…" Severus replied

"You should've known better you three. From what I've heard about you, you sound like smart kids! I'm disappointed in you all." Mathilych said to them shaking her head.

They felt guilty and said sorry, Mathilych said to them, "Oh, I'm not mad at you just so you know… I don't want you feeling bad for being curious about the new teacher."

"Umm… Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure Harry."

"Um… What is your real name and why do you have another name?"

"The fake name was because I didn't know my real name; the woman who ran the orphanage said that I had no name. She told me loved Welsh mythology and she named me Mathilych after Mathowlch because she had admired this myth. I found out my real name the very first day I came here to Hogwarts. The headmaster told me it was Kaori Chiba and said that he would change the muggle records of my name so that it would be true to how my parents named me. I decided to keep my first name as a nick name and tell my real name to those who I trusted as a sign of trust."

After she said that, she started to trace a pattern onto her left forearm. She unveiled it and saw that the Dark Mark was still there, and Severus leaned over and said, "We should go to the Headmaster about that… Look at mine, it's there but only faintly…Why is yours still there?"

The golden trio tried not to eavesdrop but Mathilych and Severus knew that they were going to do so anyways and just continued talking. "I honestly don't know Severus. I remember you telling me that you guys had an Order of the Phoenix meeting. Bring me up to date with every one else."

"There's a new Dark side, it's growing and Lucius is the leader of it."

"Shit. Who knows what he'll end up doing… What about Draco and Narcissa? Has Draco been forced to swear allegiance to Lucius?"

"Draco has the new Dark Mark, and if Lucius ever gets wind of you being back in England, he's going to go on a rampage. He won't stop until he has you on his side."

"That's what stupid Tom Riddle did when he found out that I was spying on him way before you. Look where it got him, several cracked ribs and a broken leg, but look where it got me, nearly dead and missing from Hogwarts for a few weeks. I had to cram what I missed into the time I had left. You're lucky he never found out until the last few months before he died. I heard about it from Minerva. Even though he knew I was spying on him, I still had to be a Death Eater, he made sure of that. Look at the time, you guys should get going back to your dorms, it's almost curfew time and Filch will be on your back if he finds you out of your dorms late. Trust me. I know on first hand experience."

"Okay. See you later Mathilych."

"Excuse me; I think you are to address her as Professor Chiba."

"We're sorry, Professor Chiba."

Mathilych got up from her seat and said, "I'm gonna go out for a while."

Severus looked up from the newspaper and said, "Be careful Kaori. You know what I told you earlier."

"Yeah." Kaori nodded and walked to the Great Hall and made her way to Hogsmeade to go to the local pub. She lit up a cigarette and took a drag of it and made sure that she was armed. She thought about how much had changed in the years that she was away from home. She wondered about how her godsons were living at that very moment. She decided that she would talk to them tomorrow by mail first to see their reaction towards. Kaori found Madame Rosmerta's pub, said hello to her and asked if she could get some Butterbeer and other drinks and snacks. Once she had them, she shrunk them and headed to the other bar in town to get some drinks, she made sure that no one was following her and when she arrived, she ordered some Odgen's Old Firewhiskey and bought bottles of different brands of liqueur. There she thought she saw Lucius and she decided to leave the bar.

She was walking back to the castle and saw that someone was following her. By the time she had reached the front gates of Hogwarts she had become very paranoid, and decided to use the Petrificus Totalus on the person. "Dammit, I should've done this earlier…"

When she did, she found that it was not Lucius but Draco. She stopped the effects of the spell and Draco yelled at her, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing you madwoman?"

She yelled at him, "Madwoman? How dare you call me that?"

"Who are you anyways?"

"I'm Mathiylch. You look a lot like Lucius Malfoy… You happen to be his son?"

"Yes. What's it to you?"

"I knew your mother and your father. What the hell are you doing out this late?"

"My father wanted me to meet up with one of his Death Eaters."

She changed her expression from annoyed to worried "That's it, you're going straight to Dumbledore. And Severus will hear about this too."

Draco became annoyed by how she was acting towards him, "What gives you the right to order me around?"

Kaori became frustrated and yelled at him, "I'm your godmother!"

Draco was speechless. 'This is the godmother that mother told me about…? The one that sent me gifts every birthday and father would take them and lock them up?' He looked at her and saw that she was smoking and cursing silently. "Alright, Mathilych, I'll come with you."

"Thank you Draco. You don't know how worried I am about you and your mother..."

They went to Dumbledore's office and there, Kaori contacted Severus. In a matter of minutes, he was there and they were all there waiting silently. Mathilych stopped pacing and said, "Sev…I'm so worried"

"Draco, please tell us what happened during the time you were at The Hog's Head." The headmaster asked

"Well, I met with one of the Death Eaters of Voldemort's group. It was Gregory Goyle's father. We were talking of how to try and injure Harry. My father sent me a message also for you Severus, 'Mathilych will be useful…' I guess he doesn't know you're back Ms. Mathilych."

"Please, don't use that in front of my name, that's just my nickname. It sounds… weird when you do that. If you want to call me Ms, say Ms. Chiba. Is that alright Draco?"

"Oh okay. I'm sorry, but I'm still getting over the fact that you're my godmother."

Severus' head shot up from his pensive pose, "You told him? I was wondering when you would."

Draco was startled that Severus knew and yelled angrily, "What? You knew? And you never told me?"

"Well, I decided to leave that part up to her." Severus replied, "So… Lucius doesn't know she's back. That means we will have to watch her and Harry closely. I don't know what Lucius is planning for you Kaori, but I don't like the sound of it…Is that all you talked about Draco?"

"Well, father also wanted to know what is going on here and if there was anything new going on and how I was doing in my schooling."

Mathyilch looked at Draco and said, "How are your mother and your aunt?"

"They're doing fine."

"I'm happy to hear that. If you ever get the chance to, say hi to them for me alright?"

"I will. I guess that's all it, sorry Headmaster for barging in here."

"That's alright Mathilych." Albus said, "Go and be careful."

They all headed to the dungeons and to their rooms. Meanwhile, Harry was still thinking about who else could be the godson of Mathilych and if he knew him. For some odd reason, he kept on remembering the time he had found a piece of mail and his aunt had refused to let him see it or open it. With a bit more thinking, he then realized it had to do with the magical part of his family. "Who could have sent it to me? Sirius? Remus? Or maybe Mathiylch? My god, this has been an eventful day…" he thought before falling asleep.


	9. Secrets Revealed Part 1

**_Chapter 7 – Secrets Revealed Part 1_**

**Disclaimer:** You know by now. I don't own them ;;

**A/N:** If there is someone that is patient enough, could you please beta my story? (I'm a little desperate here… lol)

It was a beautiful Sunday morning at Hogwarts; many of the students were sleeping in but few were up and about the castle and Harry was one of those few students who were. He had decided to go to one of the many gardens of the castle and look through his family photo album to guess how Mathilych fit into the picture with his parents, Remus and his godfather. He found a secluded tree with some shade and sat underneath it. Harry opened it up to see many pictures of him as a baby with his parents and friends of the family. Around the middle of the album, he started to see more pictures of family friends. Harry examined each picture carefully to see how each person in each picture interacted with each other. The one that had caught his attention the most was a picture of Mathiylch and all her friends looking up at him waving and grinning madly. After Harry looked through the whole album, he started to think to himself, 'It hurts to think about what might've been... Damn you Voldemort... Why did you go after so many people? When did you decide to turn evil? Why turn evil in the first place?'

Harry heard approaching footsteps and looked up to see Mathilych and Severus walking towards him. Mathilych noticed that he had his photo album and asked if she could look at it. "Potter where are Miss Granger and Mr. Weasely?"

"They're sleeping in sir." Harry replied. Harry felt a little uncomfortable being around Severus and Mathiylch after what had happened the night before, and was hoping that his friends were already awake and were in the process of finding him. Much to his relief, Hermione and Ron had seen him and walked towards the group. They sat down next to Harry, who sat across Severus and Mathilych. Mathilych was finished going through the album, and as she handed it back to him she said, "Harry, I have some pictures I want to put into this, may I borrow it to do so?"

Harry replied, "Sure you can borrow it. Erm... Quidditch tryouts aren't until much later in the afternoon, do you mind if we could do that now? I would like to see the pictures you have."

Mathilych smiled and said that of course they could do it now and that his friends could come along if they wanted to. They made their way to her room and they sat at a table waiting for her to find the pictures. She found the pictures she wanted and showed them to Harry. "I made copies of the originals and I have them in my own photo album. I think you'll like these ones."

Harry looked the first picture and saw all of the people that Mathilych was friends with all laughing and having fun. Then he saw a picture that shocked him. It was the same as the memory that he had seen, and Mathilych figured out quickly why he didn't move on to next picture and said, "Yes, that is the memory you saw. Those two are my godsons... I want you to meet one of them, actually, I'd like for the three of you to meet him. I think you all are quite acquainted with him. This reminds me... I have to write him a letter telling him to come by."

They decided to stay and wait to meet this godson that she had mentioned. In a little while, they heard the door open and heard Draco say, "Ms. Chiba, what have you called me here for? You know I have to be careful about what I do... Moreover, you have to be careful too... After all, you are my godmother and father wants to get a hold of you."

When Draco saw the golden trio, he looked confused. Turning to Mathilych, he asked, "What are they doing here?"

Mathilych looked a little disappointed and said, "Well, there's no surprise now... Harry, do you remember how you saw _two_ children? Draco is one of them, the other one is well... you. Every single birthday, and holiday, I sent you both presents. What I want to know from both of you is how many did you get..."

They both looked at her with confused looks and said, "We never got any presents from you..."

Mathiylch shook her head and sighed, "Just as I thought... Lucius and Petunia took them away... Look, I have many things to say to you both right now, and I know that you both might end up angry with me, but all I ask is that some point of time to forgive me for saying these things... However, I'm sure what I say will affect Harry more. I would've liked to stay here in the UK while Voldemort was still in power and still alive, I could've taken you in when you were in trouble and in danger, but I couldn't..."

As Harry heard this, he started to get angry, and when he had heard that Mathilych could've taken him in when Sirius couldn't, he started to yell, "Why? Why couldn't you have taken me in? Sirius couldn't, you probably knew damn well that he was in Azkaban after Mum and Dad died! You also probably knew that he was on the run from the bloody Ministry! Remus told me that he would've taken me in if he had the chance! But since he's a werewolf, he can't!"

Turning to Severus, he started to yell at him too, "You... You knew that Sirius died, you could've told her! If you had told her when he died, I could've _avoided_ going back to my relatives! They despise me! They hate it when anything magical drops into their lives! My uncle throttled me when they found out even though Voldemort died; I _still_ had to go back there!"

Severus shuddered when he heard the Dark Lord's name and Mathilych interrupted Harry from his yelling, "Harry, what the hell are you talking about? What do you mean, Vernon throttled you?"

Harry angrily replied, "Every time something related to magic happens, they blame me, and Dudley and Uncle Vernon always beat me up!"

Mathilych's facial expression changed to anger, and she resolved to talk to Albus and the Dursleys about the matter of Harry's abuse. "I _told_ Albus that would be a bad idea. However, did he listen to me? _Noooo_, he didn't. I told him that it would be a good idea to let you come with me, but then he started to talk about how the bloody Dark Lord would come after me and how Lucius and him would attack us both in one sitting... Moreover, Albus started to talk about how you would probably feel in the future never been able to meet your muggle relatives... Hah! As if, Petunia hated Lily. Did he honestly think that when she died, those feelings would go away? Petunia probably hates the idea of how her nephew is more famous that her own son... Nevertheless, what made me drop the whole idea is that he told me to think about what I would do and somehow managed to have you stay with them... I can't believe I let my guard down and said that I'd leave you with muggles that I trust… Tomorrow after your classes, you're coming with me to the Headmaster's office and we're dragging the senile old fool to your relatives' house. Is that clear? We _are_ going to clear up this _little_ issue. Severus, you're coming along too, as well as Minerva."

Harry saw his godmother in a different perspective when she was angry, and he definitely knew that along with Molly Weasely, he wouldn't want to get her angry. He sighed and said. "Mathilych, I'm sorry for yelling at you, but I am little angry about the fact that you couldn't take me in, even if Professor Dumbledore had something else in mind for me."

Mathilych looked around her room and said, "Well now, this is awkward… After that issue is taken care of, I want to find out what happened to those presents that I got for the both of you. Draco, do you remember what happened to the present I sent you for your seventeenth birthday?"

Draco stared at his godmother and said, "Father locked it up in some cupboard in the main hallway of the manor, like all the other presents I got from you. At first, I didn't know who it was, but Mother told me it was from you. I couldn't get to them at all…"

Turning to Harry, she asked what happened to his and Harry replied, "What present? Aunt Petunia did lock something up in my old cupboard though…"

Mathliych snapped her head up from her brooding and said in a low voice, "What do you mean _your_ old cupboard? I won't guarantee that your relatives will make it out alive after I talk to them..."

Harry was feeling quite nervous seeing Mathilych get so angry, he was starting to wonder how his parents could ever be friends with her. "Well... Until I was 11, they made me sleep under the cupboard underneath the stairs. After my first year at Hogwarts, they gave me the spare room that held Dudley's broken toys and things he didn't want any more..."

Mathilych was holding the newspaper and ripped it in half, shrieking and screaming, "That damn brat was too spoiled! I bet the kid's still spoiled... They probably think they're still better than we in terms of humanity... I'll show those bastards not to mess with me anymore! I told them to treat you right! I told them that if I ever get wind of them mistreating you I'd personally hunt them down and send them straight to hell! That is it! Screw visiting them tomorrow! We're visiting your relatives Harry and we're sorting this out! That old fool's coming along too whether he wants to or not... This is the last time the muggle world will be seeing that sad excuse of a family..."

Every one looked at each other and saw each other's worried faces. The Golden Trio and Draco were worried the most, they wondered if her threats were empty ones. Severus knew that she was dead serious and said, "Now, now Kaori… Let's not scare the others. I know you are serious about doing something now to make up for what you couldn't do in the past, but let's not go with such drastic measures…"

"Aghh… Let's go to the Headmaster. Let's show the old coot what the by-product of his '_master plan_' is. The senile fool probably knows I'm already on my way…"

Mathilych marched down to the Headmaster's office with the group following her. Hermione heard Severus grumbling, "Great, just great, when I thought she wasn't going to stir up trouble here, she does! I'm always the one who has to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid… That girl is going to get in to a lot of trouble some day... Miss. Granger, yes do you have a question? I see you staring at me for some reason…"

Hermione timidly asked him about Mathilych's temper and he replied, "Yes, she's a little hot-headed, but if it is something that hits close to home, she can be very irrational."

Soon, they arrived at the Headmaster's office and Mathiylch barged in and glared at the girls that were currently talking to him about Moaning Myrtle haunting the other bathrooms other than her own. She said, "Dumbledore, we've got to talk now. It's very important and it can't wait."

Dumbledore looked at the girls and said, "I'll see what I can do about it, you can go now."

Mathilych's voice took an authoritative tone and said, "Look here old man, you probably know what I'm here for… So let's cut to the chase. Do you know that the Dursleys were being negligent to my godson? Do you know that they were being abusive? I hope you damn well didn't… The idea of you knowing just makes my blood boil… We're going down to the Dursley's house and we're fixing this situation up, and by '_we're_', _you_ are included."

Dumbledore looked surprised and the usual twinkle in his eyes was gone. He sighed and said, "I assure you Mathilych, I did not know. It was an honest mistake. I am human after all… Let's go because Severus and I know that if we don't go now, the more likely you are bound make it worse for them…"

"Let's go, I don't have time to waste. We've got to go and teach them a lesson!" Mathilych created a Floo Connection to the Dursley's house and they all appeared in the living room giving Petunia quite a scare. Petunia screamed loudly, Vernon and Dudley came rushing into the room, and upon entering, they saw the group of witches and wizards that came to visit them. "What the bloody hell are you doing here? I thought I told you not to come during the year! Who the hell are those three?" Vernon yelled when he saw the magical group in his house.

"What Vernon? You don't remember me? I'm disappointed; because once I'm through with you I'm pretty sure you'll remember me…" Vernon's eyes bulged as he heard the familiar voice and said, "No… It can't be, because you're supposed to be in Canada, staying away from us!"

Mathilych, Severus, and Vernon broke out into a loud argument. Once they calmed down, everyone seated themselves on the couches in the living room. Mathilych glared at the Dursley family and said, "You probably don't know why I'm here, but I'll assure you this isn't a social visit. I'm here because I heard from Harry here that you've kept him a cupboard underneath the stairs for fifteen years of his life, and that Vernon here has been throttling him every time something magical appears in this house… Anybody have a good explanation for that?"

"I sure do," replied Vernon angrily, "That freakish boy ought to have the magic stamped out of him. We've been trying for the past eighteen years, and it still hasn't worked. We've been praying for some way for him to get out of our lives, but that Voldy-wart… whoever he is, hasn't killed him off! Instead, we find out that Harry's still alive! That freak show has been nothing but trouble to us! All these freaks keep on sending us mail by owl and we get weird stares from the neighbours each time, and you people keep on popping in our fireplace and messing up the house! We…"

As Mathilych heard Vernon's excuses, she became more and more enraged. Finally, she interrupted him by roaring, "That's not a good explanation of why you've been neglecting to take care of this boy for that last eighteen years! You've been physically abusing and emotionally abusing my godson! How can you people live like this knowing that you are hurting someone else, let alone your only family? Petunia, you've been keeping the magical part of himself out of his life for as long as he can remember…And right now, I want you to open that cupboard and give him all the presents I've been sending him since day one. At least that'll make me feel less inclined to blast you all to smithereens right now…"

Petunia stared at Mathilych in shock, sat dumbly in her seat for a few seconds. Mathilych became impatient and then snapped at her, "Go on! What the bloody hell are you waiting for? Are you waiting for me to take you by the hand to the cupboard? Get that boy of yours to help you out, I know for a fact that I sent quite a bit of things to Harry…"

Petunia and Dudley rushed to the cupboard and got all the things that Mathilych sent to Harry over the years. As the group watched them get the items, Harry's eyes grew and he felt less bitter about the memories of Dudley always having more than he did. He wanted to open the gifts at that very moment, but he knew that Mathilych was in the process of telling off his relatives. "Harry I know you want to open them but I assure you that you can open them when we get back, but I've got to ask your relatives questions about some things. Petunia, why did you do this when you know very well the method you tried over and over again didn't work?"

"My freakish bratty sister always got what she wanted. My parents didn't care about the stares that we got during the time that my sister went to that… that school! The neighbours thought that my sister was a troubled kid, and she was! She brought you home to visit as well as that boy! As soon as _he _appeared on our doorstep, Vernon decided that if he was going to live here, he would become as normal as possible. I agreed because to it because I don't want my poor Duddy-kins to have to go through what I went through…"

"Oh dear… Don't tell me that you forgot that favour that Albus did for you, Petunia… "

_Vernon turned to Petunia and asked her what Mathilych meant, and Petunia replied, "Albus saved me. My parents and I visited my sister at that school, and I got curious about what happened there. I followed her and her friends to one of their classes. What I didn't know was that it was a class where they'd be using spells… I think it was called 'Defence of the Dark Arts'._

Petunia walked after her sister into the Defence of the Dark Arts classroom, and Lily noticed that she was there. Before she could get to her sister, a fight had broken out. It was between Mathilych and Sirius. There were spells flying everywhere and suddenly Mathilych fell to her knees and began sending energy bolts. Every one began panicking and ran to the door. Then Albus hurried into the classroom and found that Mathilych was floating mid air semi-unconscious with blank eyes. As soon as Albus saw this, he realized she was being controlled by some one. Mathilych turned to Albus and said in a grating voice, "Well Albus, you've come to protect your filthy mudbloods… Let's see what happens if I use one of your precious students… Knowing you, you won't hurt her, will you?"

Then Matchilych's hands rose and a green ball of energy formed between her hands, "AVADA KEVADRA!"

Just in time, Albus levitated a desk to shield Petunia from the attack. Soon a battle started. Spells of dangerous degrees were being cast and soon a spell hit Petunia. It was the Cruciatus curse, and Mathilych smiled, as Petunia was on her knees and gasping. Petunia was crying loudly and Albus whispered, "Forgive me Kaori, but I must do this. Ex fostis obscurus fistis obscurum."

Mathilych fell to the ground and Albus asked James get Lily and Petunia's parents. They rushed Petunia and Mathilych to the infirmary, where all of Mathilych's friends were and the parents. They asked what happened and Albus said, "I feared this would happen…. That Lord Voldemort would control Mathilych's body to do his bidding. I suppose, this happened at the last Death Eater meeting. Mr and Mrs. Evans, your daughter will have to stay here for the night or the next few days, depending on the damage that your daughter received. Please do not be upset with Mathilych."

"Oh don't worry, we aren't. We know that she's been without parents all her life and was raised by that maniac. Lily and her friends told us all of this." Mrs. Evans replied.

"Mathilych will not be able to attend classes for the next week or so because the damage she received is very great. Lily, when your sister regains consciousness, I want you to explain Mathilych's situation to her and help her out around here. "

Petunia looked at Mathilych and said, "I'll never forget that day. On that day, I vowed to have normal children. Instead, I had to get my freakish nephew…"

Mathilych said, "But you went through the bond of blood. That can only happen if the members of the family love each other. There must've been something to make you do that. The least you could have done was honour the old man's wish…."


End file.
